Greyhound Adoption Program Big Winners From Racing Queensland Awards Night
What a great pleasure it was attending Saturday nights Greyhounds Queensland awards ceremony with Kevin Pitstock and his lovely partner.
Queensland's night of nights was well patronised by many owners, trainers and industry participants. It was great too see so much support during this challenging time we are experiencing.
This years event saw a change in venue from previous years gone by. Kedron Wavell services club provide the setting for the 2013 awards night, and it didn't disappoint with a two course meal and free beverages on offer for ticket holders.
Steve Hawkins and Paul “Doggsy” Dolan were the nights hosts, and did a great job bouncing back and forth, and introducing the award winners to the ever eager crowd.
The pinnacle of the night was the top gong of Queensland Greyhound of the year. This year saw 4 finalists: He Know's Uno for Iluka trainer Mick Patterson, Don't Knocka Him for Reg Kay, Got a Moment for owner Di Buxton, and the ever consistent Glen Gallon for trainer Tony Brett and the Velocity lodge partners.
We saw many awards, and a couple of new members added to the illustrious Hall of Fame. The awards were as follows:
Club Greyhounds Of The Year
Cairns – Briajohn Gold.
Capalaba – Magic Five.
Bundaberg – Passionate Eyes.
Rockhampton – Faith and Hope
Townsville – Curly Mac and Top Knock
Ipswich – Charmed Speed.
Brisbane- Aladdin's Queen and Cakes and Pie's.
Brisbane Leading Trainer – Ron Ball
Brisbane Leading Owner – Hazelgrove Partnership.
Brisbane Trainers Strike Rate – Kevin Bryant
Brisbane Sire of the Year – Collision
Brisbane Broodbitch of the Year – Ultra Swift.
Women in Racing – Sandra Hunt
Young Achiever of the Year – Mitchel Cox.
Top Simbi Award – Di Buxton.
The Hall of Fame Inductees were:
Credibility – The champion sire of such dogs as Just the Best and Faithful Hawk.
Kirsty's First – The 1986 National Distance Champion.
Bunny Hewton – Punter and former Trainer.
And long time greyhound mentors Bevan and Elaine Williamson
We also witnessed the ever popular Personality Award, which was awarded too the legendary “Lemonade” Tom Feehan,of punting fame.
“Lemonade” Tom should of also received the “Blooper” award for destruction of his trophy, which fell apart soon after he and his lovely wife, posed for there award photo with the trophy. The Look on “Lemonade's face was priceless as it fell too the floor and split in two.
The Top award was keenly contested, with each nominee, all having achieved great success throughout the previous year. Mick Patterson, spoke highly of his dog He Knows Uno, but also acknowledged the fantastic efforts of the other nominees. He also said all the finalists deserved to win and pointed out they were all winners in making the final four. How true that is.
In the end their can only be one winner, and that winner was Got a Moment. The Daughter, of Collision and Splitting Hairs, was awarded the accolade after Di Buxton, made the decision too send her to Jason Thompson in Victoria to be trained on Reg Kay's advice. It would prove to be a $425,000 move with the tiny 24kg chaser winning the Melbourne Cup and then completing the Group 1 double; winning the Brisbane Cup 2 weeks later. Di was in high praise of Jason Thompson, his partner Seona Hood and their family; and was thrilled to have won the award “stating her grandfather wouldn't believe it” had he of been alive today. Her grandfather was responsible for Di's love of the greyhound.
All the finalist deserved high praise, and all are no doubt going to leave their mark on the industry in some way or another.
Australian Racing Greyhound, is also the new proud owners of a signed Gold Coast Titans Football and Jersey.
“Lemonade” Tom, donated the items to be won by one Lucky ticket holder. Luke Gatehouse, raffled off the ball with a game of heads and tailsW, which has each contestant place a hand on either their head or tail. As Luke flipped the coin, the players were eliminated until we were left with just one lucky lady from Racing Queensland. I'm unsure who she was but she kindly donated the ball to be auctioned off to support the wonderful GAP program.
Steve Hawkins, shifted straight into gear, and a bidding war erupted, between two punters at either sides of the room. From $100 right up till $420 were it seemed to stall, until a seemingly uninterested mystery man chimed in with a bid of $430. But the mystery man was quickly outbid by the determined party across the room. Not discouraged by this, the mystery man uped the ante with a bid crushing $500 offer. “Once, Twice, Sold” Steve Hawkins bellowed.
That mystery man, turned out to be our very own Kevin Pitstock, who was only too delighted to offer up the money to support the ongoing work of the GAP(Greyhounds As Pets) program, which takes in retired chasers and re-educates them to be rehomed with loving families. We all should get behind this program and we here at ARG are all too happy to support such a fantastic program.
Maybe here at ARG we might purchase and race a dog with a proportion of the winnings going to this fantastic cause? I know we all feel strongly about providing a great life after racing to our beloved hounds.
The GAP program representatives were delighted with our contribution, and we are now in discussion on how to raffle off these items to one of our lucky readers. So stay tuned Titan's fans.
Of course none of this would of been possible, without firstly Lemonade Tom donating the items, the lovely lady who won the ball and then kindly donated it, and the big fella, Kevin Pitstock. Well done guys.
It was my first awards night and one I thoroughly enjoyed with my partner and many others. A Big thanks to Kev for taking us and I look forward to attending many more in the future. A Fantastic Night.