Caption: President of the Hastings River Greyhound Club, Rex Nairn

New South Wales news with GRNSW’S SIMON ORCHARD

THE Hastings River Greyhound Club Christmas carnival which kicked off on Boxing Day features a host of historic and hotly contested races across the annual 10-day event.

The Tweed Heads Border Park Wauchope Cup headlines the program and is worth $10,000 to the winner, but the Chasebet Butch Monkley Maiden Memorial, the Local Bookmakers Sprint, the Bago Tavern Sprint and the Maureen and Barry West Memorial finals will also be run in a thrilling carnival crescendo on January 6.

“The cup has been won by some really good greyhounds over the years and it’d have to be one of the biggest non-TAB races in the State,” President of the Hastings River Greyhound Club, Rex Nairn, said.

“And the Butch Monkley Maiden winners usually turn out to be handy chasers too. Weekend Binge was a memorable winner for Allan Lang a few years ago before going on to break some track records.

“There are maiden races worth more money around the place, but ours seems to be highly sought after and trainers will hold their dogs back for months to win this race. The prestige of winning the Butch Monkley Memorial far outweighs the money prize.”

The festive spirit of the carnival is a highlight as many holiday makes visit the region during the warmer months.

“I’ve been president of the club since 1998 and the carnivals at Wauchope have provided the community with many great memories,” Nairn said.

“Trainers and spectators have come from all around the country to enjoy it. In the old days, a bunch of caravans would spend a week at the venue and trainers would just swing open the door in the morning and basically step out onto the track.

“And we always race at 6pm on Boxing Day because the horses are on just over the fence and whoever is left standing usually comes down for the dog race. It works out well for us because the bar does terrific numbers.”

This year’s carnival swill hold extra significance as the Wauchope-based club prepares to amalgamate with both Taree and Kempsey and race out of the new state-of-the-art Taree venue in the new year.

“I think this will be the best Christmas carnival ever because there’s a possibility it will be the last of its kind,” Nairn said.

“Wauchope is reverting to a trial track after these races and the Taree centre will be up and going by this time next year.

“So this famous race meet will most likely continue down there. We’d like to try and keep the same races. They’ll just be run at Taree instead.”

The curtain looks set to also fall on Nairn’s tenure as president as well.

“On January 6 I will done. They’ll have three board members down at the new Taree club and I won’t be one of them,” the veteran of 25-years in the job said.

“I’m 80 years old and I’ve been doing it forever, so I think it’s time to let youngsters take it on.

“I’ll always help out at the Wauchope track, but I wish the new club committee all their success in their future endeavours and hope racing in the area continues to go from strength to strength.”

Meanwhile, on January 12 the Wentworth Park Summer carnival will begin in earnest with the heats of the age-restricted National Derby and National Futurity.

Open-age competitors will roar into action 24 hours later with the running of the Group 1 Paws Of Thunder and Group 2 Summer Distance Plate heats.

And while super mum She’s A Pearl won’t be back to defend her title over the sprint distance, trainer Andy Lord will still be trying to become the first trainer in the race’s history to win the Paws Of Thunder two years in a row.

“It doesn’t surprise me one bit that no one has ever won it in back-to-back years because they’re hard to win and with any Group race, it’s a bit of a “sit back and take your turn” type of thing,” Lord said.

“We’ve been lucky enough to win three of them in our career and they are the ones that send shivers up your spine and keep you in the game.”

The 59-year-old has earmarked an exciting youngster as the kennel’s one to watch across the series.

“Our knockout hope for the Paws Of Thunder is Bandit Bluey. She made the semi-finals of the Million Dollar Chase after five starts,” Lord said.

“We gave her a few months off but in her first run back she went 19.59 at Goulburn and did it easy.

“She’s a really good up-and-coming bitch with early pace and she’s strong at the end. She can run the same sections as ‘Pearl’, it’s just whether she’s got the ticker and I think she does.”

The daughter of Collision was gifted to Lord after he trained her mother to a 600m track record at Dapto.

“I trained Opal Rocks and after we got that record, the breeders said they’d give me a little blue bitch from her first litter,” he said.

“I’ve reared her up and now I think she’s a 29.4 greyhound at Wentworth Park. She trialled 29.60 in her first ever look at the track when she was about 19 months old, but she’s matured a bit now.

“She’s still eligible for a few fifth grades over 500 as well, so we’ll step her up in trip again soon and hopefully she’ll be fit as a fiddle by January. She could race in the Futurity too but we’ll see how things are going when the carnival rolls around.

“We’ve also got good dogs like One Hot Bandit, Nangar Larry and Screaming Jet. And I expect Midnight Spritz to come back a better dog after hurting a pin muscle. She will go in the Futurity or maybe the Paws if she’s ready to go.”

Formerly known as the St Leger, the Paws Of Thunder has been run almost every year since 1957.

Staying star Ritza Piper will attempt to etch her name on consecutive Summer Distance Plates after an incredible month when she claimed the Group 1 Topgun Stayers title in Melbourne, before running second in the Group 1 Bold Trease and then winning the Group 3 Newcastle Cup.

The finals of all four features, as well as The Collerson (the consolation race for Paws Of Thunder heat runners-up), will go off on January 20 with more than $280,000 in prizemoney  heading out the gate.