Working alongside greyhound trainers as a 20-year-old attracted Mark Wilcox to the sport and four decades later he is the trainer of Knocka's Return, winner of 41 races and a member of one of the most successful litters of the modern era.
"I became a roof plumber as a young bloke and worked with John Free, Stan Beckingham and Ron Field, all successful trainers, while Dean Swain, currently one of our leading trainers, was our apprentice,'' Wilcox recalled.
"Their love of the sport rubbed off on me and Flying Dragon, my first greyhound, was a $400 purchase from the Daily Telegraph's Tele Trading classifieds.
"My first good greyhound, which I owned but did not train, was Winning Smile, who was whelped in 1998.
"She won 10 races up the straight at WYONG and when she went to stud John Free and I shared her three litters.
"Winning Smile produced the winners of 140 races including Dawn Breaker and Running Issue, who each won 13 races for me, but more importantly she was the mother of Winning Shiraz, who won 10 and became Knocka's Return's dam.
"Winning Shiraz's first litter, sired by Knocka Norris, comprised Knocka's Return, Natural Player, Highly Respected, Winning Knocka, Buster Shiraz, Coonawarra Gold and Cool Maddie Ross, and they have won a total of 134 races.
"Knocka's Return has set two track records while Natural Player and Buster Shiraz have each run record times.
"Winning Shiraz's second litter, sired by Magic Sprite, have so far won 34 races and include Sweetwater Boy, who won first up at Wentworth Park.
"Sweetwater Boy's siblings include Titan Sprite, who won four races in succession before sidelined, Winning Secret, Molly Dawes, a very good bitch named Combined Effort, and Tough Nugget, who was going to be a star until he broke down during a performance trial.
"Cosmic Rumble is the sire of Winning Shiraz's 14 weeks old third litter of two dogs and six bitches.
"When I started out in dogs I lived at Padstow but after marrying my wife Jill we moved to West Hoxton and then to Hoxton Park, where our house was opposite the trial track operated by leading trainer Brian Barrington.
"Real Royalty, at Wentworth Park in 2000, was the first city winner I trained, but before that I had a lot of success with Free Sovereign and Right Reign, which I purchased from the Ward brothers, highly successful trainers and breeders at Lisarow, on the Central Coast.
"Free Sovereign and Right Reign were by the great Benjamin John from the Wards' top class sprinter Free Reign, and my pair won 25 races between them.
"Until Knocka's Return and Natural Player came along my best greyhound was Fine Thought, a Bulli specialist who won 28 races and broke the track record at Goulburn.
"Not far behind Fine Thought was Sure Advice, who won 19 races for me.
"I would always start my young dogs off by racing them up the straight at Appin because that way they learned how to race, but with no straight courses available now my greyhounds begin their careers on roomy tracks like Goulburn and Bulli.
"I think it is a mistake to have inexperienced youngsters commence racing on tight tracks with starting boxes situated on a bend. That is asking for trouble because there can be a lot of bumping and jostling on bend starts and in the long run that can be detrimental to young dogs.
"Because I race a lot at twilight meetings I would be lost without the help of my wife Jill, because feeding and exercising the greyhounds when I am away racing is left to her.''
Wilcox has no big goals, declaring he gets a buzz out of winning any race, on any track.
But he concedes one disappointment. "That was two years ago when Knocka's Return was skittled at the start of the Bulli Cup final and flew home to finish third, one-and-a-half lengths behind the winner Gradence.''
Wilcox's favourite dog of all time is Brett Lee and it's no surprise to learn that Bulli is his pet course.
These days Jill and Mark Wilcox are on five acres at Bringelly, where they breed and raise a litter of puppies each year.
