THERE were no losers at Moree greyhounds on Saturday, the town’s first dog meeting in nearly 12 months after Greyhound Racing NSW lifted a suspension that was slapped on the local club in October last year.
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More than 60 dogs chased hard across the eight-race card and connections of each and every one of them were on a winner, club president Steve Finlay said.
“It’s a great turnout, and there are a lot of new faces here too, which is good,” Finlay said. “There are a lot of people from the coast as well as Queensland.
“It’s great but we need to see more locals – more families – and hopefully that will happen once people realise that we are back and open for business.
“There are good times ahead and I think it’s only going to get better.
“The club is very financial so all we need to do is to keep up the good management and it will all come together,” he said.
Moree Plains Shire councillor and Moree Racecourse Trust board member Theo Tzannes, who with State member for Barwon Kevin Humphries lobbied GRNSW for the club’s reinstatement, were trackside on Saturday to watch history unfold.
“There’s a need for this type of thing in a small town,” Tzannes said.
“All of regional Australia is in trouble and I liken this situation to taking chips out of a tree – keep chipping away and eventually it will fall down.
“If you take a chip out here and a chip out there you end up losing something . . . take out another chip and you’ll lose something else, so I did my best to try to get it back,” he said.
“The facilities we have are as good as any facility in regional Australia.
“I explained that to GRNSW and asked them not to deny a whole town.
“I think the dogs are back for good now and I’ll be monitoring things as they go.”
The Moree club’s reinstatement was also welcome news for local trainer Neil Dallison, who, with his partner Helen Ayre, prepares a huge kennel on the northern edge of town.
Dallison and Ayre only travelled a handful of times to compete during the suspension but opted to keep all greyhounds.
“Having no home track for that long meant a lot,” Dallison said. “We only went to Armidale to race once and to Coonabarabran twice.
“I’ve got 13 pups in work at the moment ranging in ages from 14-18 months, and they’ll be ready to go on with soon.
“I’ve also got five racing dogs, so there are nearly 20 in the kennel, as well as five retirees.
“My food bill is around $250 to $300 per week, so not racing in Moree meant a lot.
“It sent us up the wall a bit financially but we love our dogs – we kept them but didn’t race them,” he said.
Caboolture trainer Tracy Kunde, whose first visit to Moree landed a win with veteran Uno Leo, said bush clubs like Moree needed the public’s full support.
“People really have to get behind places like Moree,” Kunde said.
“They really need to appreciate what they have because if they don’t they’ll lose it forever.”
