Ray Smith, who won with Irinka Lylea at Wentworth Park last Saturday night, might well have become a thoroughbred or show pony trainer if his father Ronnie had not died when he was just 12 years old.
When Ronnie's death left his wife Sheila with three children to rear, Ray's uncle John, whose marriage had just broken up, came to live with the Smith family at FORBES.
"Uncle John'' was John Finn, a greyhound enthusiast who had lived with the Pringle family at Clergate, near ORANGE, and knew just about everything that was needed to know about the sport.
"Once uncle John came to live with us I became interested in greyhounds because my family could no longer afford to keep horses,'' Ray Smith recalled.
"From 1974 we were being handed giveaway greyhounds from the Pringle family including a good brood bitch called Twisted Image.
"Like many in those days I put my age up to secure my first owner-trainer's licence and while I can't remember my first winner my first success in the city was with Sally Lou at Wentworth Park around 1984.
"At that time I mainly reared pups, educated them and after giving them a race or two cashed them and those dogs included Hi Munda, by Temlee from Twisted Image, who got to top grade at Harold Park and Rare Discovery, who was trained by Sam Sultana.
"I also reared and educated History Lesson who was sold as a young dog to Barry Johnson and became a top grade city sprinter when trained by John Finn.
"History Lesson won 30 of 71 starts between late 1998 and 2000 and when he was retired I was keen to use him as a sire.
"So I borrowed a bitch called Jackie Rooster from Geoff Curtale, who used to drive the lure at Cowra.
"When mated with History Lesson, Jackie Rooster produced Irinka Barbie, the 2004 NSW Greyhound of the Year.
"She was owned by my wife Maree and myself and trained by John Finn and her win in race record time in the 2004 group one Association Cup remains the biggest thrill I've had in the sport.
"Probably the best greyhounds I've trained myself have been Irinka Dennis, who held the track record at Bathurst and won in near record time at Wentworth Park and his son Irinka Luca.
"Irinka Luca won 23 of 52 races between 2011 and 2013 while Irinka Dennis won 13 of 36 starts and twice broke the 30 second barrier at Wenty in 2008.
"In those days sub-30 runs were virtually unheard of.
"Other good greyhounds we have trained include Goodbye Fox, which we later sold to Chris Carl, Irinka James, who won 20 races, and Irinka Ryan, who won 14 of 24 starts .
"And John Finn trained Irinka Tahnee, winner of 13 races, and Irinka Natalie, who was first past the post on 21 occasions, with success for us.
"The Irinka prefix was chosen because it is an aboriginal word for dog and we thought it sounded pretty good.
"While we have had success as owners and trainers Maree and I consider ourselves more as breeders and rearers than owners and trainers.
"We breed two or three litters a year and rear them on our 100 acre property at FORBES, we have never lived anywhere else.
"At present we have 15 greyhounds in work so at present are heavily involved with training and apart from Irinka Lylea and the Launceston Cup winner Brad Hill Billy, we also have a couple of promising young dogs, Irinka Tyson and Irinka Millie, who won a double at Cowra last Saturday.
"Maree's all time favourite greyhound is Irinka Barbie but apart from our own my pin ups are Brett Lee, Jessica Casey and a very underrated Victorian greyhound, Arvo's Junior.
"When it comes to favourite tracks Wentworth Park rates pretty highly at the moment but because Maree and I love our country racing Dubbo, Bathurst and Cowra are the ones we like best.
"Everyone has highs and lows on the racetrack but to me the biggest disappointment I've experienced has been the introduction of the use of frozen semen for stud dogs.
"I'm a breeder and believe the only thing that should come out of a freezer is ice cream!''
