Newcastle identity Warren Slade has held a trainer’s licence for over 60 years but his association with the sport extends well beyond that.
Warren, who turns 80 in October, became besotted with greyhounds as an eight-year-old when he spent a school holiday with his uncle, the legendary greyhound trainer Stan Maher.
The Maher family were greyhound racing icons in the Hunter Valley and Stan’s brother Albert trained champion sprinter Cream Range, who won the inaugural WINTER Stake, run in 1964 at Harold Park.
Stan Maher’s kennels were on Ash Island, over the bridge from Hexham.
He bred champion stayer Bright Pleasure, who held the Harold Park 800 yards (732 metres) record throughout the 1950s and also trained Cola Minda to win the 1953 Harold Park Annual (now known as the Vic Peters Classic).
“That holiday with uncle Stan changed my life,’’ Warren Slade said.
“I loved the greyhounds so much I never went home, and my parents didn’t mind. They let me live with uncle Stan from then on and I attended a little primary school on Ash Island.
“But before and After school I walked his greyhounds and when I finished primary I didn’t go to high school, instead going to work on a nearby dairy farm.
“After that I worked in the abattoirs at Newcastle and Maitland and when they closed I started training greyhounds on a full-time basis.’’
While Warren was training greyhounds his brother Johnny Slade became a Sydney rugby league star and was appointed captain and coach of Parramatta first grade in 1953, aged just 21, while he was selected ahead of the great Clive Churchill as fullback for the Sydney team which played against France in 1955.
Warren has always had a unique way of training his dogs.
“I drive my car through the bush and have the dogs’ leads in one hand and they jog alongside the car,’’ he explained.
“If I want to give them a hit out I might speed up and let them sprint for 400 or 500 metres.’’
Warren Slade’s idyllic existence with his uncle was shattered in the early 1960s when Stan Maher was killed while returning to Ash Island After racing his crack sprinter Mark Barry at Wentworth Park.
“Stan wasn’t driving but whoever was apparently fell asleep and the car plunged over a cliff near the Hawkesbury River,’’ Warren recalled.
“Stan was the only one killed and when I arrived I asked the police about the whereabouts of Mark Barry.
“They said they thought they heard a dog barking in the distance so I returned when it was daylight and found Mark Barry, alive but the worse for wear with a big hole in his leg and shoulder.
“But I nursed him back to health and later trained him to win a Gunnedah Cup and Lithgow Golden Muzzle Consolation final.’’
Understandably Warren finds it hard to remember all the wonderful greyhounds he has trained, but nominates champion stayer Gallant Seagull as the best.
Gallant Seagull broke Donovan Bailey’s race record when he won the 1998 Summer Cup at Wentworth Park and smashed Fire Lad’s race record when he took out the 1998 Sydney Cup, also over 720m at Wentworth Park.
“Gallant Seagull was a son of Karen Seagull, a good staying bitch I trained who held the Newcastle 686m record,’’ Warren said.
“In the same litter Karen Seagull also produced Poppy Jack and Nefarious Mick and between them that pair and Gallant Seagull won 60 races.
“Beaumont Park at Newcastle was easily my favourite track, although I also won a lot of races at Muswellbrook, Lithgow, CESSNOCK, Maitland and Singleton.
“Bobby Poetschka’s Nation Lou held the record for the most wins at Beaumont Park with 19 victories but I won 18 there with Magic Caber and 14 with Glen’s Hanky.
“First winner I trained was Pleasure Cruise while my first city winner was a tough stayer named The Fanatic, who won 21 races.
“They had marathon races in those days where the dogs would start from the 500 metre boxes and do two laps of the track.
“A bitch I trained, Magic Perm, was a marathon specialist and she was a marvel considering her leg had been crushed when she was an eight months old puppy.
“There had been a big storm brewing so we needed to get a load of hay under cover and in our haste we didn’t notice little Magic Perm and we ran over her leg with a trailer load of hay.’’
Warren Slade’s greyhounds have always been renowned for the longevity of their careers.
Among his other top notchers have been Alert Profit, a Harold Park Summer Cup finalist, Gosford sprint record holder All Mercury, Next Question, Naturally Best, who won 26 races, Cherie Kay (18 wins), Magic Maid and Miss Howlong (14 wins each).
And the best greyhound Warren has seen in his 70 years in the sport?
“Zoom Top, no doubt,’’ says Warren. “I had a good stayer called Michelle’s Lass and she contested an invitation race at Beaumont Park against Zoom Top and Amerigo Lady, who had won the inaugural National Distance Championship at Wentworth Park in 1969.
"Zoom Top beat my bitch by 10 lengths and to this day I reckon chasing Zoom Top all the way that day broke Michelle’s Lass’s heart. She was never the same bitch again.’’
