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Linda Jones and her husband moved to Lakenheath in 1989, bought
9 acres of land and formed the
now famous Imperial Kennels. They started training with just
four dogs and a couple of litters. Mark Wallis joined Linda in
1990 as the kennel started racing at Swaffham and other local
tracks.
Over the next few years the kennel gradually built up it's
kennel strength to around 30 dogs and success quickly followed
with regular winners at Mildenhall, Yarmouth and Swaffham. A few
good class dogs began to emerge and Imperial Kennels were
quickly recognised on the Open race circuit. A dog called Lonely
Mixture put the kennel on the map when claiming a major sprint
competition at Bristol.
The major breakthrough came with a lucrative contract at Romford
in 1994 and this, combined with a further increase in the kennel
strength led to the kennel picking up bigger prizes and
attracting more quality greyhounds. The Champagne Club with
their greyhounds running under the "Bubbly" prefix became
strongly associated with Imperial Kennels. Honky Tonk Girl won
the Essex Vase, providing Linda with her first category one
winner.
After
a brilliant 1998 where the kennel finished 7th in the
Championship they were drafted in as reserves for the Trainers
Championship Meeting at Walthamstow the following year. Despite
being the 100/1 outsiders, they won the competition! This
probably helped Imperial kennels gain a yet more lucrative
contract, this time with Walthamstow. More major Open race
successes followed culminating in Linda becoming Champion
Trainer in 2001, a title she retained in 2002.
Mark is married to Linda's daughter Sarah and had been Assistant
Trainer
for 6 years before taking over the license in early 2005 due to
Linda's health problems and he took the Trainers Championship in
his first season. Linda is still very much on the scenes
and continues to play a big role at Imperial Kennels. Mark
currently has around 50 graded dogs who run at Walthamstow as
well as countless top-class Open racers who contest competitions
throughout the country.
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