By DAVID BRASCH

GREYHOUND racing lost a stalwart when Northern Rivers great Nev Robson, pictured, died recently.

He was 89.

A Northern Rivers boy all his life, Nev’s parents had a dairy and reared a few greyhounds on the side.

Nev Robson, born in 1934, was 14 when he trained his first greyhound. “Don’t ask me its name,” said Nev years ago. “I was training the dog but couldn’t go to the track.”

Nev became a builder, but after a stint in Sydney for work, he bought 100 acres at Gundarimba where he ran beef cattle. He sold it to buy a 25-acre farm at Alstonville and spent all his life there training greyhounds.

He retired from the building game at 45 and started training a procession of top-class greyhounds.

He won the Gabba Shortcourse with Linden Busy, one of his first feature race victories, then got Chiffon Star, his first track star who was also a breeding great.

Chiffon Star produced Flawless Star, the winner of one race, but Nev always claimed he was the fastest he ever trained. He used him at stud and got great success.

In the 1970s he bred and raced the brilliant He’s Allegro and a bitch called Spirited Copy.

He’s Allegro was the damsire of Gabba star Fifi She’s Not, and Nev would mate Spirited Copy to Flawless Star and the litter included Star Series.

She won the 1985 Pop Northfield Maiden and then became the dam of Go Series who would give Nev and Pauline Robson their greatest thrill in racing when in 1991 she won the Tweed Heads Galaxy.

Go Series’ daughter Blue Series provided the Robsons with winner after winner, Group class dogs that would be sought after throughout the country.

Blue Series to Toss The Teddy produced Allegro Jet, one of the fastest dogs Nev trained. He ran a track record at Maitland.

It led to more and more winners.

In later years, Nev was happy to concentrate his endeavours around the Rivers, but he often sent dogs to New Zealand to be trained and that too provided great success.

He also has the current New Zealand star Hifi Allegro. His mother Hot Treasure also was a star there.

In his heyday Nev would rear up to 70 dogs on his property and had up to 18 dogs in training at any one time. He would sell pups but insist he reared them.

He always refused to name the best greyhound trainer he had seen.

“It’s an illusion,” he once said. “If you get the best dogs, you’re the best trainer.”

Nev Robson was just that … one of the best greyhound trainers there was.