Linda Eileen Jones is a retired English

greyhound trainer A greyhound trainer is a person who trains greyhounds for racing. This involves exercising, feeding, and grooming them in addition to keeping the greyhound in race condition to enable the greyhound to race to the best of its ability. History Befo ...

. She is a twice champion trainer of Great Britain and was a leading trainer during the 1990s.

Personal life

Linda was born in July 1948 and married Doug Jones. In 1989 the pair moved to the village of

Lakenheath Lakenheath is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It has a population of 4,691 according to the 2011 Census, and is situated close to the county boundaries of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

and formed the Imperial Kennels. They later employed

Mark Wallis Mark Andrew Wallis (born 1964) is an English greyhound trainer. He is a record 13 times UK champion Greyhound Trainer of the Year. Profile In 1990, Wallis joined leading trainer Linda Jones at the Imperial Kennels (Linda would later become his mo ...

in 1990, as their assistant trainer and he married their daughter Sarah before taking over the kennels on Linda's retirement.

Patrick Janssens Patrick Janssens (born 19 September 1956) is a Belgian former politician. He was a member of the SP.a and the former mayor of the port city Antwerp. Career Janssens studied "Political and Social Sciences" and "Applied Economic Sciences" (bot ...

was also employed by the kennel.

Career

Linda initially raced at Swaffham Stadium,

Yarmouth Stadium Yarmouth Stadium is a greyhound racing track located at Caister-on-Sea in the Borough of Great Yarmouth and English county of Norfolk. It is licensed by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Greyhound Racing takes place every Monday, Wednesday ...

and

Mildenhall Stadium Mildenhall Stadium is a speedway, stock car racing and Greyhound Board of Great Britain regulated greyhound racing venue located in Mildenhall, Suffolk between Cambridge and Norwich. The stadium is known as Suffolk Downs when greyhound racing ta ...

before gaining a contract at Romford Stadium in 1994. In 1998 the kennel recorded 138 open race winners and finished 7th in the UK standings and qualifying as first reserve for the 1999 Trainers Championship at Walthamstow Stadium. Linda a 100-1 outsider was called into the meeting and created a major shock by winning the title. Secret Crystal, finished fourth in the 1999 English Greyhound Derby before on 1 November 1999 Linda joined the sport's leading track Walthamstow from Romford and the Imperial Kennels grew in stature and began to secure major wins including the Essex Vase and the

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

. In 2000 she had 212 open race winners and won the East Anglian Derby and Laurels in addition to finishing third in the 2000 English Greyhound Derby with Greenfield Deal behind the legendary Rapid Ranger. In 2001 she became champion trainer of Great Britain with 235 open race winners and Kinda Magic won three major races. This was followed by 323 open race winners and a second Champion Trainer title in 2002.

Retirement

Due to ill health Linda retired in 2005, handing the kennels to Mark Wallis and her daughter Sarah. She has remained active within the industry sitting on the board of the Trainers Association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Linda Living people 1948 births British greyhound racing trainers