It’s not the first time it’s happened to Paul Dalton, he actually became accustomed to it during his “previous life”, but he didn’t expect to posing for photos and doing television interviews at Taree greyhound track.
“It was like back to the old rugby days,” Paul said of the media interest after his greyhound Shamal won the opening event at Wednesday’s Taree meeting, the first TAB meeting the club has hosted in their more than 60 year history.
“I had Channel 9 there chatting to me, and I had to have some photos taken in front of the winning post, and the semaphore board.
“Back in years gone by I coached rugby, I coached NSW – I should have coached Australia – and I had all the publicity in the world back in those days. This was a little bit like back then.
“I won back to back premierships (1985 and 1986) coaching Parramatta against the Galloping Greens (Randwick), and they never scored a try against us in two grand finals, then like I said, I went on and coached NSW, made Nick Farr-Jones the captain, and had the likes of (David) Campese and (Brett) Papworth in the team.”
When Paul and his wife Jan decided to head out of the bustle of Sydney around 20 years ago, they moved to Manila, a small town 45 kms northwest of Tamworth.
“I knew nothing about training greyhounds until we moved out of Sydney to a place called Manila between Tamworth and Barraba,” Paul explained. “We bought a business there, the wife and I, and we spent three years there, working seven days a week.
“One of my customers who I got to know well, was into greyhounds and it all led from there.
“I raced them at places like Singleton and Gunnedah, and actually won my first ever race at Gunnedah with a dog called Pretty Please (in 2001).
“We moved to Taree just coming up to 17 years ago, and I’ve continued on with the dogs.”
Dalton said that Shamal had “plenty of ability” but she needs a wide draw, and when she got that on Wednesday, it played a pivotal role in her success.
The Taree club hosted 11 races at their historic TAB meeting, and are set to host their next meeting on July 8.
