At first it looked like a typo. Even the man who came up with the name thought that was the case. But it wasn’t … Cawbourne Marty was actually, Cawborne Marty.
Pretty much since he began owning and then breeding greyhounds, Stuart Dickinson has put the Cawbourne prefix on most of his dogs.
“I’m from Cawdor, and all of our family was born out there, and my father called our property Cawbourne Park,” Dickinson explained.
“When I was 18, my dad bought me a share in a greyhound. I’m 46 now and I virtually just stayed in the sport since then.
“The first dog I bought I called her Cawbourne. She was a bitch I bought from Mark Bell. She was a repeat mating of Head Honcho and Web of Silence - the first mating had produced Go Wild Teddy and Mean Bean and all those others.
“And it all just started from there, calling them Cawbourne this and Cawbourne that.”
Around 20 years ago, Dickinson bought a pup by Big Ginger Boy out of Malawi’s Pearl which he named Cawbourne Pearl.
Cawbourne Pearl was mated with Proper Tears and among the offspring was Cawbourne Fraz, who, when her racing career was over, was mated with Where’s Pedro, and among the eight pups, was a bitch named Cawbourne Ottey.
After her racing career was finished, in 2017 she was mated with Swift Fancy and one of the eight pups, would be called Cawborne Marty.
But why Cawborne and not Cawbourne? Among his littermates were Cawbourne Get Up, Cawbourne Sophie, Cawbourne Scar, Cawbourne Hunter, Cawbourne Cross and Cawbourne Clint. So why Cawborne without the ‘u’?
“I put the name in as Cawbourne ‘something’, and a bloke from Greyhounds Australasia rang me up and said that name was taken, can you change the name to something else,” Dickinson recalled.
“I said yeah not a problem, and he asked me what do I want to make it. I said Cawbourne Marty.
“What has happened is this guy, over the phone, has just spelt it wrong when he resubmitted the name, and left the ‘u’ off.
“I didn’t even realise and when it came out in the papers, I went what’s going on here? I thought they have just written it down wrong on the front of the card so I rang up and they said no, that’s what it is registered as. I said how have you done that, I’ve had dogs for 30 years. Surely they know how to spell it.
“Oh well, it doesn’t bother me, and it doesn’t matter how it’s spelt as long as they can run.”
Marty can run, and after winning at his first look at the Wagga track on May 10, he was second to Good Odds Meghan in a heat of the Graeme Hull Memorial Cup at the track last Friday.
Cawborne Marty has drawn the two for the $10,000 to the winner final next Friday, while his kennelmate Cawbourne Madox has also come up with great draw.
“I’ve never had a runner in the race before,” Dickinson said. “JODIE (Lord, his trainer) targeted it with those two dogs, and they have drawn one and two.”
During his long time in the sport, Dickinson has raced some good dogs and enjoyed plenty of success both here and across the Tasman, and he’s tasted group 1 glory in NEW ZEALAND this year with Cawbourne Taber, Cawbourne Krusty and Cawbourne Brick.
Dickinson said the best he’s owned have been Cawbourne Frank and Cawbourne Mim, both track record holders, and the winners of 28 and 21 races respectively.
