It may have been a nondescript Sunday novice race, but for Seven Shadows and his family of owners, it is a race they’ll never forget.
Seven Shadows – or Bart as he’s known at home – was given away by his breeder and was destined to be a household pet.
“We got him as a giveaway with the intention to keep him as a pet at home, but when we took him for walks he just wanted to run so we thought we’d give him a chance to do it,” said part owner Nathan Weir.
“We took him to the slipping track in Canberra for a gallop, after that I said to Elouise ‘if you want to give him a go we’ll take him to the trials and let him have a look.’ Since his first trial he’s kept improving.”
The couple is based at Kaleen in the Belconnen district of Canberra and with their five week old son made the drive down to Sandown Park last Sunday to give Bart his first crack at racing.
“We thought the track would suit him with the wide bends. We drove from home to my mum’s house in Wagga which was three hours, then left Wagga at 6am Saturday morning and arrived for a walk at the track at 1.30pm – about 10½ hours all up.”
The 20/1 chance led most of the way only to be run down in the closing stages by Eralda Bale. The result however was of little consequence given the journey that led them to Sandown Park.
“He’d never been against seven other dogs, or gone through the processes of a race day, plus the long trip down he had a lot of things going against him. It doesn’t matter to us if he wins loses or draws as long as he has fun and comes off the track safe and well. It was an exceptional run we were very proud.”
Despite being newcomers to Sandown Park, the pair was impressed by both the venue and how they were welcomed by the locals.
“Jai Jose handled the dog on the day – he was great and has offered to make the hour drive to and from his home in Catani to help us out again this week. All the staff were fantastic and very helpful – even though the dog had to be swabbed after the race the stewards still let us take a photo. It was a special moment.”
Weir, 36, has spent his life around greyhounds, a passion Elouise now shares.
“My uncle and brother raced greyhounds at Temora – we grew up in that area. I’ve loved being around the dogs all my life – when Elouise met me she fell in love with them and now she’s keen to train.”
With Bart being the only greyhound at their home the pair had plans to expand and purchase a purpose built greyhound property, however since the recent announcement of a planned ban of greyhound racing in New South Wales those plans have changed.
“We had a plan to purchase a purpose built greyhound property closer to my family in Wagga with a modern set up and paddocks for retired dogs, but now we don’t know what to do – it’s very upsetting.
“It’s disheartening to think something like this could even happen, I’m gob smacked even thinking about it. 99% of trainers do the right thing and they’ve been tarnished due to the 1%. There are some fantastic trainers and people in New South Wales that I feel sorry for – it’s very sad.”
Seven Shadows returns to Sandown Park this Sunday in heat 3 of the Maiden series which will jump at 2.11pm.
The family wish to pass on condolences to Debbie Collier, Secretary at the Canberra Greyhound racing Club on the sad loss of her father earlier this week.
