Few racegoers at Wentworth Park on Friday night would have recognised 75-year-old trainer Ron Seymour, who won with Zipping Abby, but 21 years ago he was the talk of the track when he landed the 1993 Golden Easter Egg with Billy Binjang.
Billy Binjang won the first Golden Easter Egg run on sand, as the three previous finals, taken out by Ultra Sense, Highly Blessed and John Finn’s Jessica Casey, were held on a grass surface.
Billy Binjang also made history by annexing the Easter Egg at only his 11th start, and at 23 months of age is believed to be the youngest winner.
Despite winning the Easter Egg with Billy Binjang, Ron Seymour does not rate him the fastest greyhound he has trained in his long career.
“I had two finalists in the 1993 Easter Egg and my other runner, Spirit Master, was a bit quicker than Billy Binjang,’’ the 75-year-old said.
“Unfortunately he did not get far in the big race because he fell at the first turn.
“When the late Doug Gudgeon of MUDGEE, one of Australia’s most successful breeders, sent Spirit Master to me, the dog had been through four different trainers and was over three years old.
“But between myself and Lithgow muscleman Jimmy Monaghan, who was a genius at detecting and correcting deep seated muscular problems, we got old Spirit Master going and he won 15 races.
“Doug Gudgeon bred most of his race dogs and he secured Billy Binjang by mating his champion brood bitch Gravel Rash with the 1989 Australian Cup winner Ginger.
“But he had bought Spirit Master for only $200.
"Billy Binjang and Spirit Master were not my first runners in a big Wentworth Park race because in 1967 I trained David’s Dawn who reached the final of the National Derby won by Mister Moss."
Seymour has also enjoyed plenty of success with other greyhounds in his long career.
“Another good sprinter I trained was Fiancee, who was a brilliant beginner and won 21 from 39 starts," he said.
“Owned by Geoff Cooke, Fiancee struggled to get a strong 520m but from six Wentworth Park starts she managed three wins and three seconds.’’
Seymour’s success is especially remarkable because he has always trained no more than four greyhounds on a house block at Portland or Bathurst before moving 46 years ago to Raglan, a Bathurst suburb.
He had no family background in the sport but became involved through doing a favour for his boss.
“At 15 I was an apprentice butcher at Portland and my boss was Roy Eaves, who won a lot of races while training greyhounds as a hobby," he said.
“He asked me to walk his dogs for him and the first winner I was involved with was Mr Success, 60 years ago.
“Eight years later I trained my first city winner, Bowraville, although she was in my wife Pauline’s name because by then I was working part-time as a bookmaker’s clerk at ORANGE and Bathurst dogs so was not permitted to hold a trainer’s licence.
“Pauline and I were married in 1961 and she has always been very much 'hands on' with the dogs."
Seymour said Bathurst and Richmond are his favourite tracks while the best greyhound he has seen is Zoom Top, the phenomenal all distance champion from the late 1960s.
“The fastest greyhound I have seen go around Bathurst, my local track, is the recently retired Shakey Jakey," Seymour said.
“The three greyhounds in my kennels now are all owned by breeder Marty Hallinan, for whom I have trained on and off for the past 20 years.
“Zipping Abby, who won at Wentworth Park last Friday, is the quickest, because she consistently breaks 30 seconds in trials at Bathurst.
"She has had seven starts for four wins and two seconds.’’
