Racing returned to Horsham last week after the eyes of the racing world were on the Melbourne Spring Carnival. Horsham Greyhound Racing Club took that opportunity for a break and to refresh over the carnival.
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The meeting turned out to be a pretty lean night for locals, with only Chops Malone (Pat Smith) being able to trouble the scorers for a win. Tuesday’s victory was the second on end for Chops Malone and he takes that winning form in heats of the GRV Vicbred series tomorrow where he lines up from box one over the 485m.
The break also gave us a chance to reflect on some of the good news stories in greyhound racing over the past few weeks.
Former Horsham policeman Matt Height has long held a passion for greyhound racing and has been a past president at Warragul Greyhounds and a trainer in his own right.
Almost two years ago Height suffered a major stroke that put him in hospital for several months. He is still unable to walk long distances and relies on a wheelchair. His goal has been to return to training and recently at Warragul he trained his first winner since the stroke. Matt’s two young boys and wife, Megan, were on hand to witness Walkin’ The Walk win from box one.
Walkin’ The Walk then backed up a couple of days later to win again. No doubt a great incentive for Height to continue working hard on his recovery and hopefully, one day soon, be able to walk his greyhounds to the start boxes himself.
Walkin’ The Walk then won again.
Greyhound racing is blessed with many champions, but with lucrative stud deals on offer and a racing career of generally only about two years the achievements of a black dog called Oaklands should be recognised. He recently ended his racing career after an incredible 224 starts. Although he never raced at Horsham it is a feat rarely achieved and places him second in total number of race starts in Victoria. The six-year-old dog revives memories of Horsham’s own Domain Road, owned and trained by Kevin Jakobi, who had 95 starts but failed to win a single race over his career. Domain Road retired a few years ago through the GAP program and is living life out on a couch somewhere.
Tuesday racing is a regular 12 race card starting at 3.02pm with highlights being SA Oaks winner, My American Girl (Race 8) and litter mate Pure White Evil (Race 6) going around for Andrew Paraskevas. Both will be extremely hard to beat.
