Young Alley Greyhounds is a website pertaining to the greyhound interests of Bob Grocott from Australia, better known to many as Young_Alley on the international greyhound forum Global Greyhounds He was a foundation member of Global in November 2000 along with a few other enthusiasts who previously belonged to each of the separate forums in the USA, Ireland and Australia.
They carried over their original pseudonyms and whilst Global is not currently as pioneering and robust as in it's heyday there is still a great deal of respect between original members like Rockingship (Dennis McKeon, USA), Terracena (Peter Rose, Australia), Mugsie2001 (Mick Murphy, Ireland) and Bob.
Fantastic innovations like Greyhound-Data evolved in parallel with the vigorous debate and well-researched input on Global's Breeding and Pedigrees forum.
Bob's interest in greyhounds started in the late 1960's.  A work colleague introduced him to the sport and he became a regular attendee at Dapto and the old Wollongong track. He got a real buzz out of watching exciting greyhounds like Amethyst Queen (Dapto) and Jenolan Honey (Wollongong). He also attended Bulli and the city tracks in Sydney to watch the likes of Travel Rev, Ragsie and Pied Rebel. Champion stayer Travel Rev left an indelible impression on Bob with his incredible track sense and race “tactics”.
The Dapto and Wollongong meets also coincided with the Sandown and Olympic Park meetings in Victoria. Radio broadcasts and bookmakers betting on those events attracted strong support.  Dogs like Black Diro, Credence, Gerard the Gent, Gold Grotto and Saki Dasher were among the popular champions of that era.
Bob and his workmate purchased their first pup Juanita Jane choosing her at 6 weeks, then having her reared and trained. At her first start she jumped in front from box 8 at Wollongong, negotiated the treacherous first turn and managed to maintain a neck margin for the whole trip. The pure adrenalin rush experienced has remained with Bob ever since.  Juanita Jane's career was reasonably moderate until she found the Gabba track in Brisbane which ideally suited her early speed and tight railing ability. She won a number of races there fulfilling ever owner's dream of getting a “winner in town” with their first dog.
Once Juanita Jane finished racing Bob found attending meetings not as enjoyable as when his own dog was racing. Career moves interstate, further study and a young family took precedence for the next 20 years. He attended occasional meetings at Cannington and the city tracks in Melbourne in this period. One night at Sandown he noticed an outstanding competitor on TV at the corresponding Gabba meeting named Miss Perlita. Her mother Blue Perlita and Juanita Jane's mother were half-sister's. Miss Perlita won the Border Park Galaxy and was crowned Queensland Greyhound of the Year. In time Miss Perlita's grandson New Peta was crowned Western Australian Greyhound of the Year. No doubt these occurrences sowed seeds of thought with Bob about pedigrees and breeding.
In the early 1990's Bob and his son Alex ended up at Wentworth Park in Sydney one Saturday night about halfway through a race meeting. His son really enjoyed it and Bob's enthusiasm for the sport was once again rekindled. Over the next few years many a fun night was had by them and Bob's daughters at Wenty.
Eventually the greyhound bug bit back and Bob made his 2nd greyhound purchase (around 25 years after the first) with Young Alley Boy. The pup was chosen at around 6 weeks and reared elsewhere. During this time Bob acquired an 11 acre property in the Lake Macquarie shire, a traditional greyhound region about an hour north of Sydney towards Newcastle. This time Bob and Alex decided to have a crack at training. After an unlucky 3rd at his first start the dog won a heat and final at Wyong in his next two starts, knocking off Dave Irwin trained odds-on favourites in each.  Young Alley Boy went on to be a handy performer at tracks like Maitland and Bulli before competing at Wentworth Park where he won over 720m. They got great enjoyment by training their first dog to “win in town”.
Bob's passion to learn more about breeding and pedigrees continued to grow as he then tried his hand at breeding on a hobby basis. The first pup he bred which was sold overseas Willow Taylor produced a trackrecord breaker in the UK called Zero to Hero. He spent considerable time studying breeding patterns and getting practical knowledge. He attended a number of breeding seminars as well as “hands on” learning with one of Australia's leading studmasters Sam Cauchi at Rocky Ridge Farm. He marketed frozen semen from many of Australia's leading sires into USA and Ireland. Both Sam and Bob were trained and accredited with the Camelot Frozen semen training program run by Richard and Sharyn Conole in Texas. Together they visited many of the leading breeding farms, studs and frozen semen inseminators in the USA and Ireland. Bob spent valuable time visiting and discussing breeding with renowned breeders like Mary Butler (Greymeadow's Farm, USA) and Pat Dalton, Seamus Graham and Hugh Maguire in Ireland.
Whilst in the USA visiting Strickland's Sires stud farm an opportunity came out of left field to acquire Fortified Rush for stud purposes in Australia.  At that stage the dog was still competing at Wheeling Downs where he was rated one of the all-time greats. Over ensuing months an agreement was reached for the dog to be retired and undergo quarantine before flying to Australia to stand at Rocky Ridge Farm. Subsequently also a broodbitch Asti Drama was purchased and bred to USA's top sire Gable Dodge in the USA. That litter has won 70 races to date, including 18 by Robin Ronin who has raced in top grade at Hollywood and Wheeling Downs.
All the while Bob has continued to study breeding patterns and the pedigrees of outstanding greyhounds across the world. Many breeders have sought his advice and more recently he has began publishing breeding articles in the new weekly publication The Greyhound Leader.
Above all though the primary focus by Bob has been to breed pups from the highest quality bloodlines with International appeal.  After much research, planning and patience he now has a core stock of broods with outstanding potential and is offering their first crops of pups for sale on the global market. Full details about these are contained on this website.