A friendship between a company manager and a union delegate was the unlikely catalyst which sparked successful Nowra trainer Ron Fisher's involvement in greyhound racing.
"In the early 70s I was the boss of a meat works at Katherine in the Northern Territory and became friends with the employees' union delegate Ted Kederer, who trained greyhounds as a hobby,'' Fisher recalled.
"I would help Ted slip his dogs up the straight at the local thoroughbred track and sometimes watch his greyhounds racing at Darwin's Winnellie Park.
"We became such good mates that in the early 1990s, when he was training greyhounds in Queensland, Ted sent his LAWNTON 609m record holder Beagle Boy Eyes to Sydney for me to train and he reached the National Derby semi-finals at Wentworth Park.
"After the stint in the Northern Territory I returned to NSW where I played rugby league as a front row forward for Goulburn UniTed in the strong Group 8 competition.
"I was selecTed to play for the combined Monaro side in the popular Amco Cup competition, which featured country and city teams and was televised from 1974 to 1979.
"The Amco Cup was a big deal but unfortunately I ripped a cartilage in a knee and that was the end of football for me, so I took up training greyhounds.
"My interest in the sport had continued while in Goulburn as John Staples, the father of a rival footballer, owned Fluent Top, a smart dog trained by Jack Snodgrass, father-in-law of current Sydney trainer Larry Procopio.
"So after coming back to Sydney I began training and won first up at Nowra with Let's Swing, a daughter of the Pringle family's smart sprinter Red Swinger."
Ron and his wife later bought a property in Nowra, where Ron ran a butchery for several years before retiring in 2008 to concentrate on greyhounds.
"When we moved to Nowra Judy worked for one of the area's top trainers Michael Abbott, who trained the champion Token Prince," Ron said. "We both learned a lot about greyhounds from him.
"We also received valuable advice from Johnny Thomas, another successful local trainer and we have always had a high regard for trainers like Owen Makin and Jimmy Coleman, who was probably the best of them all.
"While at Nowra we have had smart greyhounds like Harcool Lad, an outstanding short courser who won 21 of 54 races over 310m to 425m between December 2011 and November,2013.
"Before that we trained the versatile Domino Vitali, who, in 2009 and 2010, won 17 from 33 starts over distances ranging from 472m to 720m.
"But our best greyhound has been Indian Larry because while he won only nine of 35 races he contesTed 15 Group events.
"He didn't win one but was runner-up to Train A Journey in the 2007 Rookie Rebel at The Meadows, was second to Laurie's Tigers in the 2007 Richmond Derby, and finished third to Cromlah Bale in the 2006 Vic Peters Classic and to Flashing Floods in the 2007 New Year's Gift at The Meadows."
Awesome Berger, Queen Cleopatra and Black Jack Magic are other smart greyhounds the Fishers have trained.
"Our most promising greyhounds right now are Dokmai, who has had four wins, four seconds and a third from 11 starts, Espanyol, who has won in 22.31 and 26.14 at Bulli and Priori, who won first up in 22.77 at Bulli on September 18," Fisher said.
"While he can't run 520m Good Judge is continuing to be a good money spinner, having won 13 races from 33 starts.
"My earliest memories of top dogs are of watching the likes of Tara Flash and Pied Rebel in 1971 but my all time favourite was the great stayer Travel Rev, who was unbeatable over 800 yards (732m) at Harold Park around the same time.
"I also enjoyed watching Harold Park sprinters Shapely Escort and Tivoli Bush while Judy's favourite was Tivoli Chief, who was owned by Father Kevin Manning, later to become the Bishop of Sydney.
"When it comes to favourite tracks it would be a photo finish between Bulli and Richmond, with Richmond likely to get the nod from Judy and I.''
