Jan Wheeler: ‘It's His Life, His Legacy, His Dream'

ON October 13 2021 greyhound racing lost the most influential figure the sport has ever seen and in all likelihood will ever see in legendary breeder Paul Wheeler.

In this exclusive conversation with Gerard Guthrie, his wife Jan speaks in-depth publicly for the first time about Paul's shock passing.

Jan talks emotionally about how tough it's been for her and son Brendan to push on with the racing and breeding empire and also reveals a huge announcement about a new prefix for the Wheeler greyhounds to honour her late, great husband.

GG: I really appreciate you sitting down to have a chat Jan. Have you not been asked to talk about Paul before or just not wanted to?

JW: I haven't on both. I haven't been asked and I haven't been ready. But I'm happy to talk about Paul to anybody who wants to.

GG: How hard has it been for you and Brendan to keep the operation, especially one of such enormity, going since losing Paul?

JW: It's devastating. You struggle every day. Brendan and I struggle every day. Brendan is just coming to terms with it now. I don't think I ever will, because every day you wake up he's not there. But this is his life, this is his legacy and this is his dream, so we've got to keep that dream going. The dogs are our life too and they're what keeps us going. I don't know how I'd go without them.

GG: Was there ever a time after Paul passed away that you thought about not continuing with the greyhounds?

JW: No. There was never a time when we felt we wouldn't keep doing it. From day one. I actually came back from Paul's funeral, Brendan called me back because we had a bitch whelping and she was in trouble. Brendan said ‘I hate to do this Mum, but you've got to get back'. My grandson now follows that litter because he came back with me and took her to the vet for the Caesar. He said ‘these are going to be special Nan'. They're doing okay too.

I kept thinking that's what Paul would want. I remember when Paul's Dad (Allen) passed away, he had dogs racing the next night and I asked Paul if he was going to race and he said ‘I have to, because that's what Dad would want'. So I know that's what Paul would want too.

GG: One of the most difficult things for you, Brendan and the family must be that Paul's presence is everywhere you look around the property and home.

JW: Even coming down the driveway I often just stop and look at what he's done and what he's done is amazing. Even to us it's amazing. I remember Scott (son) saying to me once ‘Mum, I'm in such awe of Dad, because everything here he had in his head. No-one could see it but him and he's done everything to the last screw'.

Everything is just perfect. Mind you, we lived in a shed for eight years so the dogs could have air-conditioning and everything else, but hey, the dogs give us everything. I went to get a bitch served once at Tony Lockett's in the back of a Mercedes and Tony said to me, ‘Jan, you've got a dog in a Mercedes', and I said ‘Tony, she paid for it!'

GG: Having known Paul, I can imagine you can still hear him giving you and Brendan advice.

JW: I can hear him yelling at me sometimes saying ‘You've done the wrong thing' or ‘Don't do that'! I've said to Brendan, your Dad wouldn't have done that, but Brendan says ‘Mum, we've got to do what we want to do'. I want to try and honour Paul's memory and keep doing what we can as close to what he would've done. 

Paul had Brendan picking sires before he passed away. Paul was doing it before his Dad passed away. But Paul's Dad wouldn't release those reins too easily, so Paul was trying to release them a bit more to Brendan so that he could eventually take over.

Brendan was already doing a lot of the breeding and he picks the sires now and I do the whelpings. Everybody seems to vanish when you've got to sit up all night! Nobody's here, just me!

GG: People always say nobody is bigger than the game, but I reckon Paul was as close as you would get.

JW: I reckon. He loved it. He just loved it.

But he didn't like being the centre of attention. He hated getting up and making speeches and doing talks and things. When he had to give those seminars, he used to practice for weeks and he'd be panicking. I'd say ‘Paul, you know it all', and as soon as he got up in front of people he was amazing, but then he'd start shaking again when he sat down. Paul told me I had to start getting up at the presentations, but I said ‘I'm not doing that'. I don't like it either, but I feel like I've got to now. But I say as little as possible and get me off!

GG: Do you feel any responsibility to the industry to keep the business going because of how important it is to the sport?

JW: I think we do. When Paul used to work for the Board he'd come home and say I told them this, this and this. I'd say that isn't going to help us, but Paul would say it's not meant to, you've got to put the industry first, and he always did. I don't think people thought that. I think they always thought he was always doing it for Paul Wheeler, but he wasn't. 

Paul said we all need each other. We need the people to use our stud dogs and buy our dogs and in reverse, they need us. We're all just people and we need to work together.

He always said when you're at the top, remember what it was like at the bottom. Everyone has their turn. We had a brilliant ten years when we couldn't do a thing wrong – that was when we had the seven dogs in the Melbourne Cup. We were astounded by that too. But so many people didn't want to talk to us after that. I remember a fellow from Ireland said on Facebook – I didn't know him – I don't know what's wrong with the people in Australia, if you were in Ireland, we would put you on a pedestal.

GG: Have you had to make any major changes to the way you do things since losing Paul?

JW: No. I don't think so. We try to keep it going the way Paul would do things. Brendan tries to follow the breeding schemes the way Paul would. Paul's Dad always just said put the best to the best and hope for the best! But back then there wasn't the gene pool, you just had a handful of stud dogs. But now the world is your oyster and Paul caused that!

GG: I'm sure you've had great support from your network of trainers too.

JW: They've been great. We've got a couple of younger ones, Correy (Grenfell) and Danny (Gibbons). Danny just had Kelsey Bale whelp a litter of Fernando (Bale) pups, because we couldn't bring her back. Those two (Gibbons and Kelsey Bale) just love each other. I said to Brendan if we bring her back, she's just going to fret. She had three pups to Fernando and they were born on Fernando's birthday too, so that's an omen! Lisa (Delbridge) rings me all the time, she's adorable. I treat Lisa like my daughter and she's like ‘Yes, Mum', ‘We'll call you when we get home Mum'! And then Myles (Delbridge) will call me Nan!

GG: I believe you have a huge announcement that you're going to introduce a new prefix for the Wheeler greyhounds to honour Paul. Was it a difficult decision to break with tradition and replace ‘Bale' which has been synonymous with so many of your champions?

JW: We have. Yes and no. It is hard to let go of a name you've had for years, but the quality of the stock is more important than the name and we think it's important to make Paul's legacy live on.

We've decided to call it ‘Paw' – Paul Alexander Wheeler. The first ‘Paw' dogs have already gone out to the trainers and it will probably be Mark and Lisa (Delbridge) that start it off. Lisa actually rang me and said ‘I've just been looking online, what are you doing?

When we decided to go from Bale to three names (Bale, Dyna and Allen) it was because everyone was getting annoyed with the Bales winning and we thought if we go with three different names, they won't notice. But they noticed! So we decided to just go back to Bale. It's also getting harder to think of names, so now we can start at the beginning again.

GG: I think it's also very important that a feature race – and in my opinion, a standalone race at Group 1 level – is instituted in Paul's memory.

JW: They did the first race (Paul Wheeler Celebration, held on Golden Easter Egg night 2022) which was beautiful, but the second one was a bit of a fizzer. I've spoken to Daniel Weizman (NSW GBOTA CEO) and he's going to get back to me with some ideas. I just want to keep Paul's name there. Everyone tells me I don't need to do that, because his name will always be there, but I just feel he deserves a race in his honour. 

I don't want to do it on Easter Egg night, because there's a lot of other good races on that night and I think Paul's race should stand on its own.

They (GRV) have also been going to do a race in Victoria for Fernando Bale. They keep telling me they're trying to find the right race. Well, they've had a long time to find one.

GG: Considering his deeds on the racetrack and at stud, I don't think there's any doubt at all Fernando Bale also deserves a race in his honour.

JW: Just before he passed, Paul could actually say, I think he (Fernando Bale) is the best dog ever. Paul didn't think he could say that about a dog because past and present are so different. Like I said before, when you think there was only a handful of stud dogs to choose from back in those days and now the world is your oyster, Fernando has done it with the world being your oyster.

He was the first dog in the world to win a million dollars, and he did it the hard way, without winning a million dollar race. We've got millionaire races now and I think the dogs that did it the hard way should have little ticks next to their names. He won everything bar the Melbourne Cup and I think that was probably his best run ever, because he got into so much trouble and he was as strong as he'd ever been. I think he was so determined to beat (Dyna) Double One, but Double One was determined to get there too.

GG: Have you been happy with the results on the track over the last couple of years?

JW: We're really happy with the way it's going, because at the moment we're under the radar. We've won the Melbourne Cup since Paul's been gone (Yachi Bale, 2022), but we're not right on the top of the feature races all the time. But we are winning lots of races, bringing in the prizemoney to keep things turning over, and we have some really good dogs out there, without everyone looking at us, which is what we'd prefer.

GG: You've mentioned how hard it's been to keep going since losing Paul, so I'm wondering how far into the future you're looking with the greyhound business?

JW: We'll just keep going as long as we can, as strong as we can and as hard as we can. I know eventually, inevitably, it's going to come to an end because of the way the world is going, but we love what we're doing and we're not going to stop.

GG: What do you think Paul would say to you today Jan?

JW: That's a really hard one. I hope that I'm doing him proud and I hope we're still doing what he wants. I had a friend that went to a psychic and the psychic said Paul wants to tell Jan that she's not me and to calm down, she doesn't have to do it all. But I feel like I've got to.

GG: Thanks again Jan. It's been wonderful talking about Paul and it's brought back some fantastic memories for me too.

JW: Loved having you here. You're welcome anytime.