They say no one beats Father Time but when it comes to greyhound racing, ageless warrior Father Rick is making a damn good fist of it.
At Wentworth Park on Saturday night the rising six-year-old chalked up his 38th career victory and in doing so snared a rare slice of racing history, becoming the oldest ever 520 metre winner at the famed Glebe circuit.
Father Rick's 15th Wentworth Park triumph came at five years, eight months and 19 days of age, 13 days older than when Sunburnt Highway raced to the last of his record 39 Sydney metropolitan successes back in 2022.
And the son of Fernando Bale and Lagoon Prissy brought up the record win in the most emphatic of fashion, running a best of meeting 29.66s, a mere half-a-length outside his best ever time at the circuit.
"Thinking about him holding a record like that just gives me goosebumps … it makes me want to cry actually," Sharron Webster beamed.
"Ray and I are just so proud of him and what he's achieved, we love him so much and he loves us.
"To be honest, we didn't give him much of a hope the other night. His sister Lagoon Mandy trialled much better but she went amiss in the run."
"And to run that time as well. Nothing Rick does really surprises us but the other night he did. He just loves going to the races."
That he does.
In a career spanning 107 starts, Father Rick has won on 38 occasions with a further 30 placings, boasting prize money of $343,500.
And he's been no stranger to big race success either, winning the Group 3 Sir John Dillon Memorial (Sandown Park) and Listed Middle Distance Championship (Dapto) in 2023, while in 2024 he landed the Group 3 Summer Six-Hundy at Gosford before going on to finish runner-up in the Group 1 Rookie Rebel (The Meadows) at his next start.
He's also been Group 2 placed in Queensland at Albion Park.
It was back in January this year that Ray and Sharron elected to call time on Father Rick's glorious career following a sequence of below par performances.
"We didn't want to make a fool of him and he was showing us he wanted a break so we retired him," Webster said.
"We had our pups Lagoon Joey and O'Keefe coming through a bit after and I took (Father) Rick to Appin a few times to go up with the pups to show them what it was all about and he kept beating them.
"So I said to Ray I was going to take him to Bulli to trial with the pups and he went that well I decided to put him in a 340m Masters race there and he won first up.
"Since then he's barely missed a place and just loves going to the races. I think trialling with the pups really picked him back up. What else can you say about him?
While taking it a race at the time, Webster admits a tilt at the Masters Meteor in October during the Million Dollar Chase Carnival is on the radar.
But in the meantime, Sharron will keep to her regular routine with the greyhound she says is as close to "perfect" as they come.
"The days it's not too wet and he's not trialling or racing we go on a 6km walk together," Webster said.
"Like clockwork on the walk he'll stop twice and walk in between my legs which is him telling me he wants a pat and a couple of kisses on the top of his head.
"After he gets that we get walking again.
"He's just so special to us. He might be turning six soon but he doesn't look or feel it.
