Jimmy McGlinn, who died in a Hunter Valley nursing home on Monday, aged 95, was a great friend of Keith "Golden Boots" Barnes, the most famous of all the now resurgent Wests Tigers rugby league team.
"Jimmy and Keith were so close they once shared ownership of a property on the NSW central coast,'' said Eric Blythe, the long-time grader at Maitland track.
McGlinn and Barnes was such good mates that when Jimmy's dog Willa Wontcha beat Victoria's champion stayer Rod's Advice in a heat of the 1981 group one Association Cup at Harold Park, that Keith, after playing a winning role for the Tigers that afternoon, was in the pen to catch his pal's dog after his win.
It was pouring rain and I remember watching Barnes, who only a few hours earlier had helped the Tigers to another victory, in the bull-pen grabbing his mate Jimmy's stayer when he completed his 732m rout of the opposition.
At one time Jimmy McGlinn was virtually private trainer for Ray Johnasson, one of the bigger punters greyhound racing has seen.
Because Johansson was such a big bettor, I once asked Jimmy if that place undue pressure on him to deliver the goods when one of his dogs won.
Jimmy, a laid-back sort of bloke, replied: "No, there is no pressure as far as telling Ray when to bet, the only problem is about nominating his dogs for their races.
"I would have one of his team raring to go and Ray would phone me and say 'don't enter any of my dogs anywhere, I lost $10,000 playing roulette last night, so have no money to back them.'
''That meant I had to hold back entering them and next minute Ray would call me and say, 'I've won a stack playing cards last night, get my dogs into a race quick, I've got plenty to put on them.
"One night at Harold Park Ray 'spat the dummy' after losing heavily and decided to sell all his dogs.
"I begged him to let me buy two of them, including Willa Wontcha, the best dog I had trained.
"He said he was going to sell them for $10,000 the pair, but when I told him I could only rake up $6000 he agreed to let me have them for that amount.
"I then kept in touch with Ray and always told him when I thought I could win a race.
"When his old dog Willa Wontcha won that Association Cup heat in 1981 I had tipped him to Ray and he had $2000 on him at $16 and $17, so he had a big collect.
"The track was a 'bog' that night and because Willa Wontcha had bad stopper bones the wet, soft grass surface suited him.''
Jimmy McGlinn also trained greyhounds owned by the late Keith Barnes, including Come On Pancho, who landed a big betting plunge at Wyong, along with Stripper's Dream.
He met Barnes, who played 14 tests for Australia between 1959 and 1966 and scored 1519 points for Balmain, through the legendary Balmain Tigers secretary Norm "Latchem" Robinson.
Jimmy told me years ago: "Latchem lived near my grandmother's house in Balmain and his wife and my auntie were great friends.''
Jimmy McGlinn had no family background in greyhound racing, but as an apprentice plumber was required to exercise the dogs owned by his boss, Gordon Pearsall.
Pearsall's bitch Lady Marina contested the last Waterloo Cup at Rooty Hill in 1953 and he presented Jimmy with his first winner, Mister Murrah, up the straight at Wyong, along with High Classic, McGlinn's first Harold Park winner.
When mated with Black Top, High Classic produced Classic Junior, Jimmy McGlinn's first Wentworth Park winner.
Jimmy McGlinn, one of the sport's most endearing characters, always said his advice to young trainers was to "watch what successful trainers did, to use common sense, be dedicated, and to closely observe your greyhounds.''
He added: "They can't talk but will let you know if anything is amiss.''
GRNSW wishes to extend its sincere condolences to the hundreds of friends and relatives of the late Jimmy McGlinn.
