Each Tuesday highly respected former race-caller and greyhound historian PAUL DOLAN presents his ‘Best’ list. Today it is ‘Race Names’.

From time to time you see the name of a race and think – gee, that’s quite clever.

Here’s 10 race names that particularly appeal to me for various reasons. In some cases it’s because they gave me great satisfaction to call. Some others I just admire the name because someone was looking outside the square in pursuit of something which would attract attention.

Here’s my ‘Top 10’ favourite race names, in alphabetical order, with the number one choice to be revealed at the end.

BRISBANE CUP: How could a bloke who has lived all bar one year of his life in Queensland’s capital not like this name? Even if there were no superstars among the winners, I would still like the name. But there’s household names of the sport among the winners, including Top Simbi and Dancing Gamble in the Gabba era and Flying Amy, Bogie Leigh and Glen Gallon at Albion Park.

CIRCLE OF FIRE: If you have never heard of this race, I don’t blame you. It was run only once, at the former Lawnton track on Brisbane’s northern outskirts, in 1995. The late Danny Ryan was managing the Lawnton Club and thought a $20,000-to-the- winner race over 482 metres would attract a bumper field. In the back of Danny’s mind was that Flying Amy was racing at her peak and to get her there would be a coup. And Danny thought a special name for this new race would work well and he canvassed some people for suggestions. He and I tossed around a few ideas and I have to concede that the name ‘Circle of Fire’ was a Danny creation, not mine. It was particularly apt because the Lawnton track was a perfect circle, there being no home straight as is the case with Casino. As soon as the name of the race was released, along with the prizemoney to be paid, it became a talking point. Ron Ball did nominate the great bitch Flying Amy and she won the race. I’m a bit hazy about her time for the 482 metres, or by how much she won. But it was a crackerjack field.

GALAXY: I know of at least three tracks which have conducted feature races called the Galaxy. There’s the 420 metres sprint at Border Park Tweed Heads, run from 1971 to 2013. The Gabba back in the 1980s ran a Galaxy series, which was a restricted age race. That seemed appropriate, the race being a stepping point to the stars for some of the winners. And the group one staying event at Cannington is called the Galaxy. Legendary administrator Harry Pledger who ran Border Park so successfully for such a long time came up with the name of the Galaxy for his new feature sprint back in 1971, declaring that a Galaxy is a gathering of stars.

GREAT CHASE: That’s exactly what greyhound racing is – a great chase. It seems like yesterday that the Great Chase was started. The fact is, it’s been going for almost twenty years. The Great Chase started in 2003 after a group at GRV – marketing manager Lainie Tomming, her assistant Emma O’Halloran, Bob Smith, John Stephens, Jan Wilson and Mark Dooley – were looking at ways of revamping the old Provincial Cup. Originally called the Charity Chase, the event was to involve working with charity groups in local communities. With the strong influence of Vic Health, who originally provided $50,000 in sponsorship, the focus shifted to local groups supporting people with physical or intellectual disabilities. The grand final at the Meadows is an annual feature at that venue. I think it fair to say that it’s a unique concept, with the majority of Victorian tracks being involved and local community disability groups are big winners. Thanks to Neil Brown (Sandown chair), Eddie Caruana (The Meadows chair) and author Tim Haslett for this information.

LORD MAYOR’S CUP: I hope you’ll allow me a bit of self indulgence here. I called plenty of Lord Mayor’s Cups at the Gabba in Brisbane and later at Albion Park. It afforded me the opportunity to meet a number of Brisbane Lord Mayors, including Clem Jones, a legendary businessman in and around Brisbane in the 1960s and 1970s.  Many long-time Brisbane residents like myself still declare Clem Jones as the best Lord Mayor the city has ever had. He was the first president of the Gabba GRC. I suppose you could say that just about anybody can make contact with their Lord Mayor, but it was always special to me to meet the Lord Mayor, whoever he or she was, on that race night. People who know Brisbane will remember names like Frank Sleeman, Roy Harvey, Bryan Walsh and Sallyanne Atkinson who were among Brisbane Lord Mayors to attend the race night named for them. The Lord Mayor’s Cup is now known as the Clem Jones Cup.

PAWS OF THUNDER: When the NSW St. Leger had a name change to the Paws Of Thunder in 2002, I immediately thought – why the change? And couldn’t they have come up with a name better than that? For a few years I thought that way. But in time the name grew on me, to the extent that I now give it the thumbs up as being clever. I believe it was Troy Harley, then with the NCA in Sydney, who came up with this name. Good one Troy.

QUEENSLAND CUP: For the same reason as the Brisbane Cup, I loved this race because I have maroon coloured blood, not red! Beenleigh, situated half way between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, was the home of the Queensland Cup from 1949 to 2003. It was switched to Albion Park following the closure of Beenleigh in 2003. At Beenleigh, it was a two-week series, heats and final, run on Monday afternoons in June. Cups and free for all greyhounds which raced at the Gabba and later Albion Park would converge on Beenleigh for the Queensland Cup, the prizemoney being very attractive. I called about 15 Queensland Cups at Beenleigh and about another 15 at Albion Park. The clear highlight was great sprinter Rapid Journey winning the race at Beenleigh in 1998. He was the best dog I ever saw race at Beenleigh. Mind you, the great Zoom Top won the Queensland Staying Championship there in 1969, but that was long before my involvement. Another memorable occasion was when Steve Kavanagh paraded his retired star Brother Fox at a Cup meeting there in the 1980s. Beenleigh club under long serving presidents Tom Costigan and Gary Mackay and secretary-manager Glenn Hartig usually had a theme day for the Cup and it worked really well.

SHOOT OUT: The Sandown Shootout has become an integral part of Melbourne’s spring carnival. The name inspires speed and competitiveness. Back in 1995 I attended an invitation racecallers’ meeting at Dapto, put together by the legendary administrator and promoter Bill ‘Dumpling’ Dwyer. Calling races on the night were Brett Randorf and myself from Queensland, Ron Hawkswell and Dan Milecki from Victoria and New South Wales callers Paul Ambrosoli, Hilton Donaldson, Peter Johnston, Ray Morris, Nick Robin and Darren Flindell. During the afternoon a few of us went for a walk into downtown Dapto. On our way back to our motel we heard what sounded like shots, perhaps a motor vehicle backfiring. It turned out to be gun shots during a robbery. We actually saw the offenders running off through a nearby park, with police officers in pursuit. It prompted Ron Hawkswell to make the comment that Bill Dwyer had put on a special Shoot Out for us!

THE AMBROSOLI: The man needs no introduction. When Paul retired from racecalling in 2014 after a stellar career behind the binoculars and microphones the NCA named the consolation of the Golden Easter Egg as ‘The Ambrosoli’. The winner sometimes goes faster than the Egg winner on the same night. The Ambrosoli is a feature race in its own right, with group three status. Paul is a staunch New South Welshman, but nevertheless I’m sure he applauded the past two winners of the Ambrosoli. They have been Lara Kiwi and Lakeview Walter, both trained in Victoria!

TOP GUN: This annual feature of the Melbourne spring carnival has been going since 1993. For some years the race was rotated between Sandown and the MGRA (Olympic Park and The Meadows). Legendary media man Bill Collins was chair of GRV and thought an invitation greyhound race, more or less the equivalent of horse racing’s W. S. Cox Plate, would work well. According to MGRA chairman Eddie Caruana the idea of an invitation only best eight was floated by Collins, but he didn’t actually come up with the Top Gun name. That was a lady named Pat Griffen who worked alongside John Stephens. The first Top Gun, at Sandown in 1993, was run on a cold and very wet night. Golden Currency, the $3.25 favourite, led from box four by about four lengths mid race over Worth Backing with the red rug. A couple of lengths behind them at that stage was dog five, Revealing. Both Worth Backing and Revealing flashed at Golden Currency. After a long delay, the judge declared a dead heat between Golden Currency, trained by Kevin Mugavin Jnr, and Worth Backing prepared by Carl Hass. I’m not sure of the official margin back to Revealing, but from watching a replay, it was about a head. So the Top Gun was off and running to a spectacular start, almost a triple dead heat. GRV organised for that 1993 Top Gun to be shown live on free to air Channel Ten by purchasing time in a commercial break, that time being three and a half minutes. Obviously it was imperative that the race jump on time, which it did. At that stage there was no Sky Racing coverage into homes. Ron Hawkswell called the race on course and for radio 3UZ while Bill Collins called it for Channel Ten. Due to the delay while the judges tried to find a winner, time ticked away and Channel Ten resumed its program before viewers were given the result of the big race. I’m told that the length of time taken by the Sandown judges to pour over the result, before declaring the dead heat, was around seven minutes. The Sandown office’s switchboard became jam packed with people who had watched the race on Channel Ten wanting to know the result. Sometimes you see mentioned that Tom Cruise, the lead actor in the movie Top Gun, attended Sandown for the first running of the Top Gun, but that’s not true. Can you imagine how much money he would have asked for as an appearance fee, if invited?

HIGHLY COMMENDED: So that’s my 10 favourite race names. There are many others which could easily be in any such list you might care to compile.

Consider these if you will, state by state. QUEENSLAND: Golden Sands, Golden Ticket, Vince Curry Memorial. NEW SOUTH WALES: Dapto Megastar, Golden Easter Egg, New Sensation. VICTORIA: The Phoenix, Launching Pad, Silver Bullet, Bill Collins Speed Star.

And finally, my pick as the most clever, uplifting name for a greyhound race is: THE TOP GUN.