A fine day, fine racing and a good crowd combined to give the Wairarapa Greyhound Racing Club a flying start for the new year at Solway Showgrounds yesterday.
At the close of racing yesterday the club was confident TAB budget figures for the meeting would be easily exceeded for both on-course and off-course betting.
Club president Owen Marron said the crowd had been very pleasing, although ironically the weather was probably a little too good.
"We knew if we got a really good day, and we did, that people would take the opportunity of going to the beach.
"Ideally we would have liked a nice warm day, with a bit of high cloud? but don't get me wrong, we are not complaining."
Mr Marron said combining the meeting with a family carnival had worked out well and the quality of racing had also helped to secure greyhound racing as a public attraction.
In several races punters were helped by the fact the favourites were winning, he said.
One of the highlights on the card was the inaugural inter-provincial challenge, one of three feature races on the day and raced for a purse of $6000.
Greyhounds from eight different regions from Auckland to Otago-Southland, including Wairarapa, lined up for the event having been taken round to the boxes by handlers wearing the rugby colours of the individual provinces.
The race was a triumph for local greyhound trainer and Wairarapa Times-Age sports writer Gary Caffell who produced Truant to win.
Truant had actually been balloted out by regained the field through scratchings, with his trainer then scratching Truant from an earlier race line-up in order to contest the big one.
Great weather, great day for the dogs
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