Brett Lee, Collision, Hallucinate, Cosmic Rumble and Where's Pedro are household names in Australian greyhound racing and Loftus hobby trainer Barry "Charlie'' Riccio handled them all.
Riccio, whose front running greyhound Reventon led until the last stride at Wentworth Park on Saturday night, is a close friend of legendary AFL star Tony "Plugger'' Lockett.
Winner of the 1987 Brownlow Medal and holder of the all time scoring record with 1,360 goals, Lockett has long been a greyhound racing enthusiast and through their association Riccio handled each of those champions, either on race day or while they were at stud.
"I might be biased but Brett Lee is undoubtedly the best greyhound I have seen, while Collision has been a phenomenal sire, no stud dog in Australian greyhound history has served more bitches than Collision,'' Riccio said.
"I was Christened Barry but have been called Charlie all my life.
"When I left school I worked in my family's fruit businesses at Miranda and Sutherland and later combined those duties with doing voice-overs for Donnie Sutherland's pop music television shows.
"It was through me that Donnie got into greyhounds because along with the late George Cliff, for many years a greyhound racing photographer, we raced a son of Acclaim Star named Riccio.
"Riccio won a few races and after I bought a bitch called Wild Flame from the late Jimmy Patton for $500 she became the dam of County Gossip.
"County Gossip was then the mother of Major Gossip, who won the 1993 National Derby for Donnie and his old school mate, Don McMillan, who was the leading trainer of that era.
"I was 'hooked' after attending my first greyhound meeting at Wentworth Park in 1972 so a year later bought my first dog, a daughter of Milo's Charm called Suemerryn, for $50.
"I had attended school with present day trainer Tom Halley and he trained her to win give me my first win as an owner, admittedly only in a Maitland twilight meeting race.
"First greyhound I trained was Merry Merc, which I bought from Julie and Bruce Fletcher, while my first city winner was Pivotal Moment, who won over 280m at Wenty in December, 2000.
"Best greyhound I have trained was my son MATTHEW's dog Off My Trout, who was fastest qualifier for the 2013 Summer Cup at Wenty and finished third in the final won by the Tasmanian champ Bellhaven.
"Off My Trout won 14 races while I also won 11 races with Ate Bucks, who was a $4.20 chance in the 2006 Sydney Cup final.
"Drifting, who finished second to Albino Rossi in the 2008 group 3 Magic Maiden at Wentworth Park, after winning her heat and semi-final was another handy greyhound I trained, along with Pie Thief, dam of Reventon, my runner-up from last Saturday night.
"Pie Thief's six wins included a 520m success at WP in June, 2012 and her son Reventon has now had four wins and four placings from 11 starts.''
Ironically, Charlie Riccio's modesty prevented him from training the former Victorian star Where's Hoover, who had 15 important wins and 10 placings from 35 starts when owned by Tony Lockett.
"Tony gave him to me to train but after I gave Where's Hoover a couple of trials I told Tony 'this dog is too good for me, I won't get the best out of him' and persuaded him to send him to a leading Melbourne trainer.
"But I did train another Tony Lockett-owned greyhound, Wave To Kirra, to win a Dapto maiden at her first start in a race.''
Not many WP racegoers are aware that when Advance Australia Fair is broadcast before each race meeting, the voice belongs to the now famous singer Mark Vincent, who is Charlie Riccio's nephew.
"Mark recorded the National Anthem for the greyhounds when he was just 15 years old and I'm rapt they are still using it on race night,'' a proud Riccio said.
"I obtained one of Mark's first 'gigs' for him when he was 14 after I persuaded then GBOTA chairman Bill Mangafas to let him entertain guests at a Golden Easter Egg launch 12 months earlier.''
I was at that launch and can verify that the teenaged Vincent's amazing talent had the crowd gob-smacked. And the rest is history.
