Chris Cronin, one of the youngest and most exciting trainers in the country, has held a license since 2002. Having been involved with greyhounds since he was at school, he already has a wealth of experience thanks largely to working under the likes of Ernie Wiley, Paul Young and David Mullins. All three were regarded very much as mentors and taught Chris an awful lot about the game. Having learnt different aspects of being a greyhound trainer from each of them, Chris has the perfect grounding to fulfil his ambition to be one of the top trainers in the country.

In 1998 Chris's mum Brigitte took out a license herself and Chris was heavily involved in the training of a small but select team of 15 Open racers including Fast Ranger, who won the Golden Sprint at Hove and broke the track record at Canterbury for the sprint distance no fewer than 4 times. Fast Ranger still holds the track record for the sprint at Sittingbourne. Irish Greyhound Review voted him the 3rd best sprinter in Britain and Ireland in 1999.

Having initially been unattached when taking out a license in his own name, Chris took the opportunity to train at Sittingbourne in April 2005. Chris currently has a racing strength of 30, the majority of which are Open class and he is looking to double his kennel strength during 2006 across the board.

Ballymac Top (black bitch pictured bottom left) won Chris his first SKY Open on Arc Final night beating Cleenas Lady. Coolavanny Cleo won a Heat of the Maiden Derby at Walthamstow in 2005 and Let It Jo reached the Kent Derby Final in August the same year.

Lynton Kennels is an impressive establishment set in 7 acres of land, containing no fewer than 24 paddocks of varying size with all bar 7 of those paddocks being grass. There are 3 whelping paddocks (you can find out more about the breeding operation by clicking on the link below) and 4 kennel ranges with room for 120 dogs. The all-weather gallop (pictured bottom right) is 300 yards.

In what is very much a family run operation, Chris is ably supported by his parents Brigitte and Michael in the day-to-day running of the kennels. His father has been an owner for over 30 years. Chris's fiancee Claire Blanchard also works at the kennel full-time. The are 4 full-time staff in total, with a further two assisting part-time.

Chris has excellent and well trusted contacts in Ireland who are able to provide graders or top class greyhounds at variable and realistic prices and there are always pups for sale which are being reared at the kennels.