with Ron Hawkswell

VICTORIAN GREYHOUND OF THE YEAR

The 2002 Victorian Greyhound of the Year award is always a very keen contest, one decided by a panel of seven greyhound racing experts - the chairman being the Greyhound Racing Victoria Board member Hec Caruana.

Caruana was Secretary of the Cranbourne Greyhound Racing Club for many years before heading to Olympic Park, taking over from the late Ken Carr. He is joined on the Greyhound of the Year panel by:

Marg Long: CEO Melbourne Greyhound Racing Association
Jeff Davies: CEO Sandown Greyhound Club
Peter Pearson: National Greyhound Form
Geoff O'Connor: Herald Sun
Charlie Sammut: President of the Greyhound Owners Trainers and Breeders Association
Ron Hawkswell: Sport 927

The panel reduced this year's list of dogs from approximately thirty to a final line up of five:

Boomeroo: 2002 National Distance Champion.
Carlisle Jack: Golden Easter Egg, Wangaratta Cup, Warragul Cup, Interstate Challenge.
Excite Ability: Melbourne Cup, Warragul St Leger, 2nd Top Gun.
Isa Brown: Australian Cup, Cranbourne Cup.
Modern Assassin: Paws of Thunder, Perth Cup, finalist Hobart Thousand, Cranbourne Cup, Top Gun.

The venue for the gala presentation was the Crown Palladium on Friday January 14 and the winner was Carlisle Jack, raced by Max and Carol Sanbrook of Wagga and trained by Bob Douglas from Heathcote in Victoria.

A black dog by Head Honcho from Our Girl Olivia, Carlisle Jack raced 21 times during 2002, winning 12 races and finishing in the placings on a further six occasions.

A very worthy and clear winner of the prestigious title, he got up with a total of 20 votes from a possible 28. Runner up was the great stayer Boomeroo (17 points) with Modern Assassin third on 12.

Also traditionally announced on the night is the Ken Carr Medal winner, this award recognising those who have performed with absolute distinction in the Greyhound Industry.

Last year there wasn't a dry eye in the place when it was announced that Dave Hodgson was the winner.

Widely know as "Dollar Dave" (as that was the price people paid him to check their animals for muscular problems), Hodgson would reluctantly accept a dollar for his services, donating the same to the local hospital where he has a wing named in his honour.

Unfortunately Dave passed away late last year, a real blow to the industry.

This year's award went to Lil Dickie from the Ballarat Greyhound Club.

Other awards announced on the night were:

Virbac Animal Health Rookie Trainer of the Year: Wayne Vassallo
Sport 927 Leading Trainer of the Year: Graeme Bate
Kingston Trophies Leading Owner of the Year: Paul Wheeler
Rave Review/Grand Hotel Frankston/Sport 927 Run of the Year: Boomeroo
Gobis Owner of the Year: Eric Lineham
Gobis Breeder of The Year: Leslie Holmes

Interesting to note that the Owner Of The Year Paul Wheeler is based in NSW. The greyhounds he breeds are easily recognised as they all carry the "Bale" tag. Paul has approximately 600 greyhounds (67 brood bitches) on his property.

AUSTRALIAN GREYHOUND OF THE YEAR
The inaugural Australian Greyhound of the Year award will be announced early this year.

The Australian Greyhound Racing Association decided that we not only need recognition on a State to State basis but also an award for the country's best greyhound.
A total of forty experts make up the voting panel which includes representatives from all spheres - broadcasters, administrators and members of the media - each of them specifically nominated by the ten AGRA member clubs.

The task of the panel was to reduce an original number of thirteen of our best on track performed nationals down to five, and then to nominate their picks 1,23 in order of preference.

The result of the pruning exercise - one which highlighted the strength of Victorian racing, was Boomeroo (Victoria), Carlisle Jack (Victoria), Jennev (Western Australia), Modern Assassin (Victoria) and Total Denial (New South Wales).

Between them these five finalists have won a total of 14 Group races including six Group Ones - the National Distance Championship, the Carnet Golden Easter Egg, the Radio Sport 927 Sandown Cup, the Be Active Perth Cup, the Carnet Paws Of Thunder and the VIP Petfoods Gold Cup.

The official count, a tribute to the five finalists and the announcement of the winner, is scheduled to be made on a special edition of the "Catching Pen" on Sky Channel on Sunday March 30th.

WOK AROUND THE CLOCK
Knockabout Wok completed a unique treble when he saluted in the 2003 Forbes Fashions Warragul Cup in mid January this year.

The February 2001 Solve The Puzzle – Princess Rema greyhound had previously won the 2002 Group 2 Shepparton Cup and the 2002 Ballarat Cup.

Owned by Robert Phillips and trained by Tom Dailly, Knockabout Wok once again showed his sizzling turn of pace to break the field up with sheer speed, demoralizing his seven opponents.

The previous week at Warragul he stunned the clock watchers by eclipsing Brett Lee's track record by .09 (approximately a length and a half), recording an unbelievable time of 23.59 seconds.

Trainer Tom Dailly commented, "It was sensational, absolutely brilliant…..he's a very special dog."

The three Cups he won were all around 450 metres and to measure up to the top city grade he will have to step up to the 500.

Recent trials at The Meadows and Sandown suggest he should be in the race for a long way, but the final 50m remains the test.

Following his freakish form display, naturally the offers have been flooding in and it is reported that connections were offered $300,000 for their speed machine by parties interested more in Knockabout Wok as a breeding proposition.

LEGENDS HONOURED
The Melbourne Greyhound Racing Association decided to run three feature races on the opening night of their carnival in honour of legendary greyhounds of the past.

Contested over 525 metres was The Temlee, whilst The Rookie Rebel was run over 600 metres. The third race was The Lizrene over 725 metres. Entrants chosen were the best greyhounds in the country over their respective distances.

It was an interesting concept, one for which the MGRA are to be congratulated on their initiative.