Greyhound trainer Jo Slater grateful to follow in her father's footsteps

New Monmore trainer Jo Slater has expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to follow in her father’s footsteps.

Slater has officially joined the ranks at Monmore, boasting a 20-strong kennel, having assisted several successful handlers in recent years while her father, Paul was previously a respected trainer in his own right at the Wolverhampton circuit.

Jo has worked alongside Craig Marston, Richie Taberner, Brian Thompson and Chris Jones, and she is now excited to carve out her own path.

She could land a first Category Three trophy as a trainer tonight, too, with Wilma Rudolph running in the Ladbrokes.com 480 Maiden Final at Monmore (8.34pm).

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity and excited to be making the step, it’s something me and my sister Stacey are both really excited about,” said Slater. “My thanks go to Monmore racing manager, Tony Williamson for giving me the chance and, all being well, we’ll be successful over the coming weeks, months and years.

“We must also say a huge thank-you to Brian Thompson for allowing us to rent out a kennel block and helping to get us going.

“We’ve already got 12 greyhounds on the strength and will soon have 20. There’s a nice mix of established dogs and young pups coming through.

“Wilma Rudolph we’ve owned for a while, and she’s always been a great performer.

“She’s in the final and probably doesn’t have the draw she’d like. In an ideal world, she’d have trap three but she’s in trap five, so we’ll see how the race goes. It’d be lovely if she could win it and you can never rule her out.

“Coologue Molly was our first-ever graded winner on Thursday which was a great feeling.

“A lot of hard work has been put in to get to this point, and we can’t wait to see where this journey takes us.”

Also at Monmore tonight, Category Three competitions begin over both the standard 480m trip and 630m stayers’ distance.

The races should offer some insight into what to expect in upcoming Category One events, the Ladbrokes Gold Cup (480m) and Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic (630m) which kick off at Monmore on August 8 and are each worth £10,000 to the winner.