Little River greyhound breeder-trainer Norma Gost passed away on Sunday following a long battle with illness.

Norma experienced great success in greyhound racing in partnership with Jimmy Psaila, with the couple breeding and training a number of top-class greyhounds, many of which were strong types who had over 100 starts.

“We have bred greyhounds for many years, and trained a lot of them ourselves. Most of them trace back to Cuthbert, who was our foundation broodmatron. Cuthbert produced Lady Cuthbert and Miss Cuthbert, who we also bred from, with Lady Cuthbert in particular turning out to be a terrific broodmatron,” Psaila said.

“Ballroom Dancer (170 starts – 34 wins) was Norma’s favourite. We also had Our Henry (109 starts – 25 wins), Our Toyman (98 starts – 29 wins), who won the Horsham Cup and, more recently, Lady Toy (98 starts – 27 wins), who won the National Distance Championship.”

Jim said Norma has been hands on in all aspects of the couple’s greyhound operation, in particular rearing the pups. The couple has always been well known for keeping many of their greyhounds as pets once they retire from the racetrack, and those they couldn’t keep they re-home through outlets including the Greyhound Adoption Program.

“We’ve had a lot of success over the years, but we haven’t made a lot of money out of our greyhounds because we’ve kept so many of them as pets. But the good thing is that they have paid for each other with the prize money they’ve won,” he said.

The Funeral Service for Norma Lorraine Gost will be held at the Kings Chapel, 25 Myers Street Geelong, on Thursday (29 November) at 11.30am; to be followed by a Private Cremation.