They say the only negative thing about dogs is they don’t live long enough.
And that harsh reality is echoing around the Richardson home this evening as John and Judith prepare for the first night without “their champion”, Sunburnt Highway, who was sadly put to rest this morning after a brief health battle.
“It’s already a massive void for us…I’ve been down to empty the other dogs and it’s just strange not seeing him there,” Judith said.
Judith and John Richardson with Sunburnt Highway
“We’ve had him since he was seven months old. He’s the most beautiful dog you could ever wish to have, and he was never any trouble. He’s just been the most wonderful loyal friend and we’ve been very lucky to have him.”
The dog they call ‘Billy’ retired in 2022 as the most successful greyhound in Wentworth Park history with 39 career wins at New South Wales’ most famous track.
He accumulated 51 victories in total to go with 47 placings and $355,675 in prizemoney.
His biggest race win coming in the 2020 Masters Meteor decider while John battled a serious health issue of his own.
“To win the Masters Meteor when John was so sick [with cancer] at the time…no one deserved that race more than ‘Billy’ and John,” Judith added.
“That was the best moment we had in greyhound racing…it was like winning the Melbourne Cup.”
“He was a phenomenal chaser, everything he did was unbelievable and we’ll miss him dearly.”
The Richardson's with Sunburnt Highway after the Masters Meteor win in 2020
Sunburnt Highway’s memory set to live on in his progeny who are owned by the Richardson’s but trained by Rebecca Scott.
“We’ve had to move his pups on recently because John is very ill and it was hard enough to look after them all when he was healthy,” Judith said.
“Rebecca has them now and she is doing a remarkable job, we’re so thrilled. She’s got the dogs to respond, and we still feel part of it even though they’re not here anymore.”
“Star (a daughter of Sunburnt Highway and Zipping Twix] has already won a couple at Wenty Park, Ice On Fire has won his last four races and That’s Our Girl has won eight of 18 starts.”
Star (left), Sunburnt Highway (centre) and That's Our Girl (right)
“Her young son Liam apparently spends hours in the kennels with them all, he goes to the track and one of the other girls, Miss Twix, has apparently taken a real liking to him.”
“And we’ve given the remaining four [Sunburnt Highway] straws we had drawn to Rebecca as well, so you’ll see more baby ‘Billy’s’ running around in the future.”
“Hopefully they all get to Wenty Park one day like their dad.”
As for lasting memories of their former kennel star.
“The thing we laugh about most is the way he would carry on when the stir up started at Wenty,” Judith laughed.
Sunburnt Highway after breaking the record for most wins at Wentworth Park
“He’d sleep from Dapto to Sutherland and always pop up have a look around then lay back down. He was so relaxed the entire trip…until the stir up started.”
“Then he just went off. Oh the noise he used to make was something else. They would have heard him all the way around Glebe and that was always fun to watch.”
“He was just a plain old dog out of little old Dapto and he went on to do what he did. He was just awesome.”
