Linda’s major breakthrough came in
1994 when gaining a lucrative contract at Romford and, with the kennel
picking up bigger prizes and attracting more quality greyhounds, the
scene was set for Linda’s rise to the top. 1998 was a special
year with the kennel breaking through the 100 open race winners in a
year for the first time - 138 winners in all putting Linda into 7th
place in the Trainers Championship. Better news came when one
of the top six trainers dropped out of the Trainers Championship Meeting
(top six invites only) at Walthamstow and Linda was drafted in as first
reserve. Despite
being 100-1 outsiders, Linda’s team brilliantly won the meeting. 1999
also saw one of the winning greyhounds from the championship meeting, Secret
Crystal, perform admirably to provide the kennel with
their first Greyhound Derby Finalist, finishing a creditable 4th.
 On 1 November 1999 Linda took another major step on the road to success
when landing a contract at the country’s premier track Walthamstow.
This was to prove a major success as a month later Honky Tonk
Girl raced to glory in the Essex Vase at former track Romford
to give Imperial Kennels its first Category One success. This was quickly
followed up with Mumble Swerve winning the Eclipse Final at Nottingham
a couple of weeks later.
The Millennium Year was another outstanding year with 212 open race
winners and 632 points that propelled Linda to second place in the Trainers
Championship behind Linda Mullins. Courts Legal’s East
Anglian Derby and Laurels success in the space of a few weeks
was the highlight of a year which also provided the kennel’s second
Derby Finalist Greenfield Deal who was a creditable third behind Rapid
Ranger.
2001 was to provide not just Linda and the kennel with an incredible
year, it was also to see the triple Category One winner Kinda
Magic - Pall Mall (Oxford), Golden Sprint (Romford) and Peterborough
Derby, burst onto the scene. Along with Pinewood Blue (Kent Derby
at Sittingbourne) Imperial Kennels raced to an incredible 235 open race
winners and 1001 points enabling Linda Jones to be crowned Champion
Trainer of 2001.
 The success continued in 2002 with Kinda Magic making it four Category
Ones when retaining the Golden Sprint at Romford. With Vancouver
Jet winning the Arc at home track Walthamstow and Top Power winning
the Essex Vase at Romford alongside prolific open racer Rossa Ranger
(leading open racer of 2002), Linda and Imperial Kennels ran up an amazing
tally of 323 open race winners and 1081 points to land a second Champion
Trainer title.
2003 (3rd) and 2004 (5th) were reasonably quiet years with Special
Trick (2003) and Ronnies Flight (2004) being the only
Category One successes when landing the Grand Prix at home track Walthamstow. These
enabled Linda to amass 13 Category One successes before deciding due
to ill health to step down from training with Mark Wallis and her daughter
Sarah taking over the reins at Imperial Kennels.
Linda has happily regained her heath and now works tirelessly with
greyhound welfare and family commitments and is still on hand to help
Mark if called upon. Her past achievements and continuing work
endorse her legendary status in the greyhound industry.
IMPERIAL KENNELS - 2005-PRESENT - MARK WALLIS
After taking over the training from his mother-in-law Mark kept the
Imperial Kennels success story going straight away, although after a
few near misses in finals few people could have predicted the amazing
success to come in 2005. Fear No One’s Peterborough
Puppy Derby win was to start an avalanche of big race wins, Go
Commando providing Mark with the first important category One
win in the Gymcrack Puppy Final at Hall Green when fairly bolting up
in an incredible 28.11 (2 spots outside the track record). Fear
No One then went on to win the Peterborough Derby and the East Anglian
Derby (Yarmouth). Ronnies Champion (Nottingham Puppy Classic),
Bell Legend (Steel City Cup at Sheffield), Fear Assassin (Romford Puppy
Cup) and Lethal Rumble(Grand National) were all pivotal in making Mark
Champion Trainer 2005 at the first time of asking with 1445 points and
305 winners.
 2006 started a bit slowly and didn’t get going until the Trainers Championship
Meeting at Wimbledon in March and although not as big a price (10/1)
as when Linda won in 1999 (100/1) the kennel bolted in with some great
winners like the “Queen of Walthamstow” Star of
Dromin. Category One winners were to come in the shape
of Fear Robben (Nottingham Puppy Classic) and January Tiger leading
home an unbelievable 1-2-3-4 for the kennel in the Grand Prix at the
Stow. Roswell Starship (Puppy Cup Romford) and current sensation Eye
onthe Veto who won the Essex Vase at Romford in December to
completed another excellent year with 329 winners and over 1131 points
amassed.
2007 started very well for Imperial Kennels with Eye onthe Veto’s success in the Category 1 Emerald Cup at Coventry being the highlight
early on. We had big runs from Butterbridge Ali who’s second
in the important Monmore Puppy Derby behind Rough Ronaldhinho was a
great achievement. This followed Ali’s runner up spot in January’s
Zigzag Puppy Championship. Raging Jack reached two big finals (Birmingham
Cup and the Walthamstow Arc) while Daisyfield Seani and Blackmagic
Guy were second and third respectively in the Golden Jacket.
This year’s Trainer’s Championship meeting was held at
Hall Green. We defended our title won the previous year at Wimbledon with great
credit and only lost on the last leg after an epic battle with Charlie
Lister. A great performance by all our team and encouraging for the
year’s target of regaining our Champion Trainer title in which by the end of the month we had a 100 point advantage over our rivals. April was the launch of this highly acclaimed web site and Centaur Decree was a great Ocean Trailers winner. Our next big race winner in September came in the shape of Eye Onthe Veto in Romford's £10,000 to the winner Champion Stakes. Plenty of finalists but no wins until that fine specimen of a greyhound Eye Onthe Veto won his fourth Category 1 race in his career when defending his Essex Vase title, a feat that earned him a nomination for 'Greyhound of the Year'. Directors Chair was a fine 4th in the St Leger final and confirmed the promise when winning the Midland St Leger at Hall Green. We ended the year in 3rd place in the trainers' standings with 276 winners and 926 points, about 72 points behind winner Charlie Lister. (To get a complete review of the 2007 go to archives on the guest column page.)
2008 was a year we desperately wanted to regain the Trainers Championship we last won in 2005 and the year got off to good start with plenty of open race wins but in the big races we were out of luck when Directors Chair was caught on the line by Tufteys Purleta in the Prestige final at Hall Green and Genesis Dream was a beaten favourite in the Coronation Cup at Romford. February proved a great month as Stride On Babe won the Greene King Trophy at Harlow and Centaur Decree brilliantly won the £13,000 to the winner Ladbrokes Arc at Walthamstow in a flying 28.45. March started well when Genesis Dream took the £5,000 Ladbrokes Spring Festival Stayers at Monmore. The Trainers Championship meeting at Wimbledon was a real blow when not only were we well beaten but suffered bad injuries to both Centaur Decree and Butterbridge Ali but the month ended well when Aero Blackjack won the N.G.R.C Stewards Cup. April saw two runner up spots in Catergory 1 races (Eye Onthe Flame - Grand National and Commander Chief - Blue Riband) but ended with a good win for Genesis Alix in the Peterborough Assured Maraton £1,000 final.
The shock news in May was the annoucement that our home track Walthamstow was to be close in August by its owners the Chandler family. On the track both Commander Chief and Seanis Lad made the Greyhound Derby semi-finals and there was a fine win for Aero Blackjack in the Duffy Group Test final at the Stow. Plenty of open wins in June and July kept us on track for the Trainers Championship title and there was another runner up in a Category 1 race when Goldcrest King was beaten by Charlie Lister's Mottos Star in the Gymcrack at Hall Green. August 16 will be etched on the memory of a lot of greyhound people as Walthamstow closed its doors for the final time in front of a huge crowd where Butterbridge Ali broke the 640m clock (39.16) and we won the last ever race with Mountjoy Diamond. In September Directors Chair was 2nd to Lenson Joker in the Champion Stakes at Romford and as we approached the end of the year we had established ourselves at new home Harlow. Our multi Category 1 winner Eye on the Veto was retired in November and again we scored well with some of the other big finalists. Director Ruler wound up a great year when he took the £1,000 Monmore Winter Festival first prize.
At the end 2008 we triumphed winning the TRAINERS CHAMPIONSHIP with 315 open race winners and nearly 1000 points.
 2009 will go down in history as a stellar year for Imperial Kennels. Even after I have put it down in writing it is still hard to believe we achieved so much. Where do we start?
Well the year began in fine style with six winners on Sky in the first two meetings, which included the old in Butterbrige Ali and the new in Kinda Ready, although we were out of luck in the Birmingham Cup Final at Perry Bar despite steering three runners through to the final. February started in great fashion as Bomber Bailey bagged the novice hurdle crown The Springbok in scintillating style recording a blistering 27.96. The month got better when Corrig Vieri landed the weather interrupted Arc which had now moved to Swindon capturing the £10.000 first prize in fine style.
 In March we were beaten twice by our strongest rival Charlie Lister, firstly Bandicoot Tipoki got the better of Kinda Ready, who lost nothing in defeat, in the prestigious Monmore Puppy Derby and then he recorded a resounding victory in the Betfair Trainers Championship meeting at Sheffield. This seemed to be a real turning point for us as it seemed was to be the last time Charlie got the better of us and even he must have been flabbergasted at what was to happen for the rest of the year. The month ended on a high with Corrig Vieri landing another major prize winning the Spring Festival Stayers worth £5,000 at Monmore.
April produced a prolific amount of open wins that kept us well clear in the Trainers Championship standings and Jogadusc Ace formerly known as Mountjoy Gold came close in the Blue Riband final at Hall Green when runner up.
 In May all eyes were firmly on the Derby as the six round event got underway. We didn't start that well but from the second round the exploits of Kinda Ready, Jogadusc Ace and Kindred Sparky were setting pulses racing. In the end it was Kinda Ready who ran absolute stormers in the quarter and semi-finals to give myself and our team our first Derby finalist since taking over the licence from my mother in law Linda. You felt like something special could happen as in the week leading up to the final both Goldies Destiny (Grolsch puppy trophy) and Eye Eye Pickle (Monmore Stud Book Trophy) won competitions and as we approached the big race we never felt once that we were under pressure. Despite being a 25/1 shot and drawn in an awkward trap 5 slot we fancied 'Del Boy' to give a good account of himself. When the traps opened it looked game over as he and trap 4 came together losing a couple of lengths but somehow he managed to manoeuvre into second place coming out of the first two bends some four lengths down on the trail blazing Charlie Lister trained Fear Zafonic. What happened in the next 20 seconds or so will long live in the memory as Kinda Ready not only caught but passed Fear Zafonic in the dying strides to land the 2009 BLUE SQUARE GREYHOUND DERBY. Celebrations went on long into the night and a massive media reaction was sheer pleasure.
 June had soon started and Eye Onthe Storm's 3rd in the prestigious Gymcrack Puppy Trophy at Hall Green had gone quietly unnoticed and while the winners ticked over the astonishing win by over 7 lengths for the emerging Droopys Zach in the Category 1 Ladbrokes Summer Stayers at Monmore came as a pleasant surprise. Another supporting competition win for Eye Eye Pickle gave us an excellent end to the month.
 July was beginning to be a slightly disappointing month but then up steps Jogadusc Ace giving his owners the thrill of a lifetime when brilliantly battling to land the sport's second richest prize the William Hill Classic worth £40,000 at Sunderland. Things looked like they couldn't get better and our lead in the Trainers Championship was now nigh on invincible.
 We landed our 200th open win in August and despite the disappointment of seeing Kinda Ready go out in the second round of the Irish Derby we still landed an important 1/2 in the Ladbrokes August Festival at Monmore with Droopys Zach just catching Corrig Vieri to win the £5,000 first prize.
September started well with the vastly improved pup Eye Onthe Storm capturing our 5th Category 1 of the year so far with a scorching victory in the Nottingham Puppy Classic. Kinda Easy was stepping up in trip and ran on well to be 4th in the Champion Stakes final at Romford.
 October saw the continuing emergence of Eye Onthe Storm who was winning races for fun including a track record at Hall Green. The main feature of the month was the staying classic the St Leger at Wimbledon. We looked to have a strong hand with Droopys Zach, Corrig Vieri and Kinda Easy who was the new kid on the block. Corrig Vieri was unlucky when eliminated from the second round but both Droopys Zach and Kinda Easy had sailed in to the final. This time at Wimbledon we were under real pressure as both looked to have a great chance - surely we couldn't win the Derby and the St Leger! We needn't have worried as what followed was the race of the year as Kinda Easy raced into a healthy lead. Droopys Zach managed to get into second place going down the back straight for the final time but looked to have too much to do. At this point it was a certainty that we were going to win but which one? Droopys Zach showing incredible gears joined Kinda Easy on the run in and in a titanic last few strides Kinda Easy pulled out all the stops to hang on by the shortest margin in a flying 40.56 just 3/4 length outside the clock. In any other year you would be in dreamland just winning one of the Wimbledon classics but to win both was extraordinary to say the least.
 November saw both of our St Leger heroes make the Yorkshire version final but this time there was to be no winner as we finished 4th and sixth respectively. In a high class Betfred Eclipse final at Nottingham nobody really expected Eye Onthe Storm to beat some fast and more experienced dogs that included two of Charlie Lister's big guns, Fear Zafonic and Jordansoilutions, but in what was one of the most impressive to the eye performances of the year Eye Onthe Storm blew his rivals away for a stunning victory earning him rave reviews and talk of a contender for 'Greyhound Of The Year'.
A quiet December for our team but the year ended in style when the superbly consistent Jogadusc Ace ran a cracker to win the Helow Winter Derby at Henlow.
That was the icing on the cake in what was an astounding year. In total we won over £250,000 in win prize money, a record for the sport, we landed 7 Category 1's including a Derby and St Leger and had 322 open race winners scoring over 1,300 points nearly double our nearest rival Charlie Lister. What a year!
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