How Do You Define A Champion?

With trainer Jack Smith and owner Errol Hughes officially calling an end to the brilliant racing career of their star stayer, Palawa King, on Monday night, one can’t help but wonder where he ranks on the scale of all-time greats?

A winner of five Group 1 titles and one of just 18 greyhounds to win more than a million dollars in prizemoney, ‘The King’ adored himself to chasing fans with his iconic come-from-behind racing style and penchant for a late race charge.

"He's easily in the top five stayers of the last decade and he’s probably one of the best stayers of the past 20 years,” longtime scribe, Jeff Collerson, said.

“He was phenomenal. I remember when he started racing and was coming out last in sprints and Jack always said, “don’t worry, he’ll come good and he’ll be a top notch dog”. He’s been an exciting stayer and race goers love watching dogs that come from last and win, he seemed to know where the winning post was...it was as if he had a jockey on his back.”

Breeding expert and industry stalwart, David Brasch, said “if he’s not a great, he’s so close it’s not funny”.

“I do want to sit on the fence a bit though just because we tend to call too many greyhounds champions. There’s only been a few absolute champions in my opinion. Brother Fox, Worth Doing, Brett Lee and Fernando Bale were all champions,” Brasch added.

“I have no doubt Jack and Errol think he’s a champion and the fact he’s won five Group 1’s, you know what, he probably is a champion. For him to win Group 1 distance races on four different tracks, that’s a huge effort. When I was training 40 years ago, just getting from Brisbane to Sydney was hard enough, let alone winning Group 1's.”

And New South Wales' premier trainer, Andy Lord, believes it is silly to even ask the question.

"No doubt in the world he is a champion...he was a freak of nature. What makes him more of a champion is the fact Raymond [Jack] Smith lives at Forbes and had to drive forever to get this dog to the races. He was driving 15 hours and still beating them and we all know how hard it is to win interstate," Lord said.

"And every dog he ever raced got a massive start as well. He beat the best there was and he did it in a style that had people glued to their screens. He's the best stayer I've seen since Tornado Tears, he's one of the top five stayers ever and he's in my top three dogs to watch race (from an excitement point of view) of all-time."

The son of Feral Franky x Maximum Dos was named both the NSW and Australian Greyhound of the Year during his racing career, contesting 17 Group finals in total and winning eight.

That enviable race record giving connections little doubt he deserves a spot among the sport’s upper echelon.

“I used to say the word champion gets called a bit early as well…but I think we can call him a champion now,” owner Errol Hughes said.

“He’s been a life changer for this family. We never imagined this would have happened and now it has, it’s hard to believe. He just used to amaze me, some of the positions he was in, and he still got up and won.”

“I’ve had quite a few over the years and we’ve never come close to him. I’m not heartbroken or anything because it all had to come to an end at some stage. But this dog has taken us and everyone around town on an unbelievable ride. I used to go to the garage to get the car serviced and they would say, “come back in a few days”, now they say, “I can have it back to you this afternoon”.”

An epic chapter coming to a close for the Hughes and Smith families, whose friendship has been galvanised by the efforts of a once in a lifetime prospect.

“Jack and Maree mean everything to us, we’ve been friends for over 30 years, and they’ve always been the most down-to-earth people. If you had a problem, Jack would give you an honest opinion and genuine advice and Maree is one the friendliest people in the game,” Hughes said.

“It’s been a pleasure to go on this wonderful journey together.”

Smith echoing that sentiment for the Forbes couple he says “haven’t changed a bit” despite the success of ‘Ziggy’.

“We were mates with Errol and Wendy when we were racing at Forbes for a hundred dollars back in the day. Wendy and Maree worked in the canteen at the Forbes dog track and that’s how we came to be great friends,” Smith said.

“Then they bought our old house in Forbes in 1994 and we’ve never looked back. They’re deadset bushies those two...they reared five boys out in the bush and then they get a dog like Palawa King later on in life, and nothing changed despite winning half a million dollars.”

Group 1 wins in the Queensland Cup, National Distance Championship, Association Cup, Bold Trease and Fanta Bale all outstanding moments for connections.

But it was his final career win, in a heat of the Fireball at The Meadows on July 13 last year, that Hughes and Smith believe was his best.

“That was the only time in his career I’d written him off and he still got up,” Hughes said.

“I’ll never forget the race caller saying “holy cow” when he got up to win,” Smith added.

“There were a lot of good memories though, so it was hard to nail one down. The five Group 1’s are hard to split…Maree [Smith] loved the State of Origin win because she was up there with him," Smith added.

“I think his record will one day get him into the Hall Of Fame so I’ll let other people work out whether he’s a champion. All I’ll add is there’s not many dogs who have achieved what he has, we’ve been blessed. Long live the king.”

Palawa King is now available at stud, but he will head back to the Hughes household to enjoy his retirement.

“He’ll retire in the house, we’ve got a pet whippet named ‘Little King’ so it’ll be ‘Little King’ and ‘Big King’ in the house, I just don’t know where I’m going to sleep,” Hughes laughed.

Palawa King retires after 77 race starts, with 31 wins, 29 placings and $1,103,875 in career earnings.