It was the one thing which Evelyn and Johnny Attard craved, and they did come painstakingly close. It’s not exactly the same, and sadly Johnny is no longer with us, but on Saturday night, Evelyn will finally get ‘her race’ at Wentworth Park.
On Friday, Evelyn will celebrate her 90th birthday, and her grandson Ray Morcomb wanted to commemorate the occasion in a way which was very special to his Nanna Evelyn.
Ray reached out to GRNSW’s Mark Duclos, who set the wheels in motion, and with the help of the GBOTA’s Allan Hilzinger, Evelyn and her family will be treated to a special night at Wentworth Park, with the showpiece coming at 6.46pm when the field is boxed for the third race - her race - the Happy 90th Birthday Nanna Evelyn over the 520m.
For Evelyn it will be a return to the scene of the … some may say a crime, as it was criminal that she never got to win a race at Headquarters.
“Nanna was pretty much born into the game. Her father bred and raced greyhounds, back in the halcyon days of coursing,” Ray said.
“Nanna had a pretty rough old life. She never really did all that much for herself, she was just an extremely hard-working lady, wife and mother. Apart from family, the only thing in my Nanna’s life that she was passionate about was the greyhounds.
“My Pop Johnny has long passed. He was the trainer and he was into the racing of the dogs, but my Nanna did all the heavy lifting and she was the one who truly, truly loved the dogs and the breed.
“She put decades upon decades working within the greyhound industry whelping, rearing, training and even taking care of the old, retired race dogs and broods. They literally got nothing out of it. They just didn’t have much luck and my pop had some funny old ideas on how to train greyhounds.
“I guess she has a bit of a hard luck story with the game. They mostly raced country/TAB class dogs. They always wanted a city winner and never got one. One night they had a dog lead into the straight and got pinched on the line.
“Their dog was called My Price and the bitch that ran him down was called Queen Of Labour. I remember this as Pop would replay the race over and over, on the old VHS tapes.
“Nanna just absolutely loved the dogs, and she honestly worked so hard and put so much into the industry, but is just one of those who never really got anything from it.
“I would just love to see her have a great night out at the dogs. She is soooooo bloody old school it’s amazing - she lives for her great grandchildren, she gives everything, and never, and I mean never, asks for a thing.”
There’s no longer VHS tapes, but we’re sure on Saturday night that Ray can download the replay and the family can take plenty of vision on their phones of what will be a very special night, a night when this time Evelyn’s Price will be right, and she will be a Wenty Winner.
Post Script: After reading Evelyn's story on thedogs.com.au, leading trainers Jodie and Andy Lord were so touched they have decided to help Evelyn get that elusive Wentworth Park winner.
The Lords have offered to give at no cost, Evelyn a 50% share in one of their pups which will race in the next four to six weeks.
And to quote Andy: "You can tell Evelyn she will be getting her Wentworth Park winner."
** Post post script: The owners and trainer of Hurricane Fury have kindly and generously announced that Evelyn has 50% ownership of their dog for its race at Wentworth Park this Saturday night giving her another chance to capture that elusive Wenty win. The dog is engaged in race 5 and will be one of the favoured runners.
