Max Wintle

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: MAX WINTLE
CATEGORY: TRAINER

Legendary greyhound trainer Max Wintle has been inducted into GRV’s Hall of Fame at the 2017/18 Victorian Greyhound Awards at Crown Palladium.

Wintle, 85, has achieved some extraordinary feats in greyhound racing while training from a humble house block in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir.

He created history by becoming the first Australian trainer to travel to America with a race dog, Dennis Direct, who was a champion sprinter of his time. Dennis Direct was invited to compete in a world championship event in the US in the early 1960s, only to be scratched upon arrival due to ill-health.

Max was also the first trainer to win the prestigious National Sprint and Distance Championships in the one year (1961), while he travelled all around Australia with his greyhounds, winning on at least 65 different racetracks around the country, a record that will never be broken.

Max is still an active trainer today, training in partnership with son, Geoff.

“We’ve had a wonderful life – the children and (wife) Gloria – and I put it down to greyhound racing because it bonded us. It’s a family affair that truly pulls families together and keeps them together,” Max said.

Max Wintle fact file

• First trainer to win National Sprint (Dennis Direct) & National Distance (Sprig O’Heather) Championships in same year (1961).
• First Australian trainer to travel to America with a race dog (Dennis Direct), who was ultimately scratched. He was accompanied by now-billionaire Lindsay Fox, whose brother Don owned Dennis Direct.
• Trained winners on at least 65 greyhound racetracks around Australia.
• Continues to train greyhounds from a house block in Melbourne (Reservoir) at 85 years of age. Is quite possibly the oldest active greyhound trainer in Victoria at present.

About GRV’s Hall of Fame: The people and greyhounds inducted into the Victorian greyhound racing Hall of Fame have been recognised for their excellence, integrity, consistency, longevity and overall contribution to the industry.

2017/18 Victorian Greyhound Awards