Beal took out the Moss Vale Greyhound Club trainers' premiership, narrowly beating home leading South Nowra trainer Owen Makin after wins in the last two meetings of the season put him on top.

The popular mentor can be seen at Moss Vale Showground almost every Saturday and his success is just reward for plenty of hard work.

Beal generally has six to eight dogs in work at any one time and his Moss Vale success can be put down to a number of

"We've had a good run with the dogs because we've got basically country dogs and a few that are up to TAB class but nothing spectacular," he said.

"But they're good Moss Vale dogs and they just kept winning or running places, but there's nothing in this kennel that you'd want to pay good money for."

Beal has been involved as a hobby trainer and owner for many years but it wasn't until April 2003 when he moved to his custom made training facility at Tahmoor that he became more serious about racing dogs.

He has enjoyed plenty of success since then and came third in last year's Moss Vale premiership.

"I train a bit differently and I don't work it as hard as other trainers, I let them relax a little bit during the day and I don't over do them," he said.

"I don't like to get rid of my dogs, I tend to hang on to them and we give them every chance to win a race."

One of Beal's best is five-year-old Screaming Wizard, who is still chasing the bunny when most of his contemporaries have long since retired.

The black dog was a consistent runner at Moss Vale this year, but overall the dog has only won five races but has placed 30 times.

"The dogs respond to me pretty well and you build up a good rapport with them," Beal said.

"But it's a tough game, it's not an easy game and that's why you need back up and support."

Close friend Shawn Marsh is a big help to Beal, who describes him as his 'right hand man', helping him out with the training as well as driving the dogs to the race tracks.

Fellow Tahmoor trainer John Fleming, who has been working with dogs for more than 40 years, has also been a guiding figure, offering Beal advice whenever it was needed.

"It's a challenge and when you go and see them improve like they can, it's a real buzz," Beal said.

"For someone who's only been back training for two years, I guess the satisfaction is being able to race the dogs competitively against the best trainers."

Greyhound racing resumes at the Moss Vale Showground on January 24.