Nicolas Savva known as Nick Savva is a

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 ...

and breeder. He is a four times winner of the

English Greyhound Derby The English Greyhound Derby is the most prestigious race on the British Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing calendar, with a history stretching back to 1927. It was first held at White City Stadium, but moved to Wimbledon ...

and is regarded as Britain's most successful breeder, along with his late wife Natalie Savva (1935–2019) who also held the kennels training licence at one time.

Early life

Savva was born in 1934 in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and left the island country for

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where he gained work in an engineering factory and then a restaurant. He started attending race meetings at

Harringay Stadium Harringay Stadium was a major greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway venue in Harringay, north London. It was built and opened in 1927 and closed in 1987. Construction Harringay Stadium was the third greyhound racing stadium to open in Br ...

in 1952 and started a dressmaking business. He met Natalie Drew in 1957 and they married in 1961 before selling his dressmaking business and buying a kennels.

Career

Nick and Natalie started training and breeding greyhounds and became increasingly successful. Many of the greyhounds bred at their Westmead Kennels base were given a name with the Westmead prefix and in 1972 the kennel gained their first major success with Westmead Lane after winning the

Cesarewitch The Cesarewitch Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Newmarket over a distance of 2 miles and 2 furlongs (3,621 metres) ...

. Natalie held the trainer's licence at this stage. Westmead Myra reached the

1976 English Greyhound Derby The 1976 Spillers Greyhound Derby took place during June with the final being held on 26 June 1976 at White City Stadium. The winner was Mutts Silver and the winning owners, a syndicate headed by Ray Lancaster received £15,000. The competition ...

final and based near

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

the kennel would have spells at seven tracks;

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

, Hackney,

Henlow Henlow is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about south-east of the county town of Bedford. The name Henlow is believed to derive from the old English ''henna hlaw'', meaning ...

and

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

but would race mainly unattached. During the next decade the Westmead name became the leading prefix with the likes of Westmead Power and Westmead Move, in addition Special Account won the

Scottish Greyhound Derby The Scottish Greyhound Derby was an original classic greyhound competition held at Shawfield Stadium. Held at Carntyne Stadium from 1928 to 1968, after the closure of Carntyne the race appeared at Shawfield from 1970 until 1985. In 1988 the Gre ...

. The remainder of 1980s and early 1990s saw major wins for Olivers Wish, Flashy Sir, Westmead Harry, Westmead Surprise and many more. The quality of breeding increased even further with the likes of Phantom Flash, Staplers Jo,

Toms The Best Toms The Best was a leading racing greyhound during the 1990s. He is the only greyhound to have won both the English Greyhound Derby and the Irish Greyhound Derby. He was also voted the 1998 UK Greyhound of the Year. Whelping and rearing He was ...

and Tralee Crazy. During 1997, Toms The Best claimed the

Irish Greyhound Derby The Irish Greyhound Derby held at Shelbourne Park, is the premier greyhound racing competition in Ireland. First held at Harold's Cross in 1928, the event was unofficial until 1932 and called the National Derby. The first winner in 1928 was T ...

and one year later the

, Tralee Crazy won a Classic double and Larkhill Jo won the

. Sonic Flight won the 2001 Scottish Derby before the Savva's established themselves as the industry leaders in breeding and training during an extraordinary spell. The spell came after he gained a new licence in 2004 following a two year break and saw

Westmead Hawk Westmead Hawk (May 2003 – 26 May 2014) was a black male Greyhound. He was a two-time winner of the English Greyhound Derby in 2005 and 2006, and has drawn comparisons with Mick the Miller and horse Red Rum. Westmead Hawk was the father to ...

secure two consecutive English Derby wins in 2005 and 2006 and Westmead Lord set a record by completing a third successive Derby win for the kennel in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Awards

The Savva's are four times winners of the Trainers Championship in 1977, 1983, 2000 and 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savva, Nick British greyhound racing trainers 1934 births Living people