Morris says fond farewell as Bear retired after injury

CHELMS BEAR, one of the fastest greyhounds in training over the last couple of years, has been retired after picking up a gracilis muscle injury in a trial before racing at Towcester on Sunday.

It was a mixed afternoon for Craig Morris, who struck with promising youngster Nightingale Crew during racing, with the Yarmouth handler saying yesterday: “What this dog has done for me as a trainer and us as a kennel is immeasurable. He gave us our first Category One win and paved the way for a number of top-class dogs to be sent to us.

“It was only a sprint trial, but I could see he swung out wide at the second bend and there was an issue. It’s nothing serious but will require plenty of time. He turns four in April. He owes us nothing so we’ve called time on his career.”

Owned by John Wright, John Tarpley and James Edwards, the powerful tracker landed the Birmingham Cup at Nottingham in 2025, one of four Category One finals he reached that year.

Previously handled by Patrick Janssens when known as Barntick Bear, the son of Droopys Sydney reached a total of six Category One finals dating back to the 2024 PGR Puppy Derby final at Monmore, finishing second to Untold Dollar and also third in last year’s Select Stakes.

Morris was keen to thank Janssens for selling the dog to his kennel last year.

“I know Patrick [Janssens] thought the world of this dog and he was gutted to hear the news of the injury at Towcester, but I cannot thank him enough for selling the dog to us last year – he has taken us on some journey.

“He is the dog of a lifetime for me. Regardless of where we were going and who we were taking on, I knew with any sort of a clear run he was a big player.

“His Birmingham Cup win was obviously a very special moment for us, but his track record run over 500m at Sheffield in last year’s 3 Steps To Victory was one of the best runs you will ever see on these shores and I’m proud to have trained him.”

On the plus side, Morris was delighted to see his promising sprinter Nightingale Crew scoring against a high quality field over 270m in 15.68sec.

Breaking level, the speedy youngster held favourite Born Racer and Pavilion Team to the bend before kicking on to score by just under a length.

Morris said: “The inside draw was handy for us and being inside Born Racer was vital. He’s a cracking dog with huge pace. After his brilliant win on debut at Romford we took him to Nottingham for the National Sprint, but he just didn’t take to the track.

“I’ve entered him at Romford a couple of times in recent weeks and the 225m sprint hasn’t filled. Hopefully it will this week as I’ve entered him again. He’s owned by a syndicate of great lads headed up by George Watson and hopefully we’ll have some fun with him this year.”

There was a hat-trick of Towcester 500m winners for Janssens courtesy of Not So Steady (28.96sec), Droopys Graph (28.98sec) and Slick Sentinel (28.77sec).

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