For the best part of four decades, the Sunny Lodge greyhound education centre at Cudal has helped produce chapter after chapter of chasing champions.
Dennis and Ann Barnes have been the mainstays of the operation in the state’s Central West, although in more recent times, the baton has been passed onto their children, Sandra Spratt and Tracy Barnes, as well as their partners CHRIS Spratt and Jason Harmer.
“It’s brought me a lot of joy seeing the girls and their families do what they’re doing,” Dennis Barnes said.
“Sandra and CHRIS won the big maiden at Grafton this year [with Heidi Mcgraw], which was their first big win and it was a very emotional night. I think Sandra cried from the catching pen to the presentation and the fella who sponsored the race, Dessie Winters, even cried as well.”
“And Tracy has a property nearby and they’ve just finished building their first lot of rearing yards and they’ve come along beautiful. It’s still a work in progress but they will keep going, no doubt. I always hoped the girls would get into the dogs and it’s very satisfying to see them making their way.”
In the last 12 months, Sandra and CHRIS have taken on a bigger workload at Sunny Lodge, allowing Dennis and Ann to shift more of their focus to the race dogs.
“We break in about 35 dogs a month and even though our dogs have priority, we rear for clients depending on yard availability at the time as well,” CHRIS Spratt said.
CHRIS Spratt with his sons Archie in the foreground and Jock in the background
“The quality of brood bitches we have at the moment is great though, so they are producing plenty of good pups to prepare. Hopefully it continues long into the future.”
And the shift in responsibilities at Sunny Lodge is certainly showing on the track as well.
So far in 2023, greyhounds in the Barnes name have taken out 43 of their 100 starts at a 43% win rate. It’s among the best strike rates in the country and a new benchmark for Barnes-trained chasers.
“I reckon this is the best group of dogs the team has ever had,” CHRIS Spratt said.
“Our racing syndicate name ‘Tracsan’ came from the two girls names put together and the success we’re having at the moment is largely thanks to Dennis and Ann. In the last few months Nangar Lucy won the Peter Mosman Opal, Heidi Mcgraw took out the Grafton maiden and Nangar Rocket nearly won the 715 so we're going well. I did 13 years underground in the mines so to be above ground now and doing this is pretty great.”
The success a credit to the long and illustrious line the Barnes family has built – first with the ‘Fancy’ name and now with the ‘Nangar’ prefix.
“It’s taken me 40 years to build this breed up to where it is now and hopefully I keep breeding and getting it better. I always try to look at a stud dog that will enhance the dogs of the future. I don’t just go to the leading stud dog at the time and I think I’ve got things pretty right at the moment,” Dennis Barnes said.
The likes of Little Nangar (41 wins in NSW in 2023) Nangar Diva (29 winners), Khatanga Eve (23 winners) and Nangar Silk (10 winners with a further seven interstate) currently call Sunny Lodge home.
Fancy Dancer was also part of the ‘Tracsan’ breeding behemoth, and super dam All Too Fancy is responsible for throwing more winners in NSW in the last 10 years than all but My Lady Day.
The Barnes line even helping produce one of our most recent champions, She’s A Pearl, with the retired star a granddaughter of Sweet Fancy, who was bred at Cudal and can lay claim to being the queen of the brood bitch empire.
Barnes’ search for the perfect breeding formula a fond memory for daughter Tracy growing up.
“Back in the early days when there was no internet, Dad would have brood bitches coming on season and I’d get up at 3am to have a drink of water and he’d be sitting at the table studying form and there’d be stud books lying all across the table,” Tracy said.
“So it’s no accident he has the breeding line he has. I think it used to drive Mum mad with him sitting up until all hours of the morning. You’d have a chat to him before bed about his plan and by the time you’d wake up, he’d have changed his mind,” she laughed.
The 37-year-old immensely proud of “the amazing legacy” her parents have built for the extended family.
“It actually makes me a bit emotional thinking about it. I’ve seen mum sleeping in the whelping boxes for years looking after the brood bitches and their pups. I’ve watched dad pass on his knowledge to Jason and CHRIS as if they were his own sons. The way mum and dad interact with their grandkids, it’s nothing unusual to see any one of them helping with the dogs after school, it’s just amazing,” Tracy said.
Her parents feats enough to inspire Tracy and her partner Jason to kickstart their own greyhound operation just a stones throw from her childhood home.
“It’s been two and half years in the making but we finally got the yards done and have just finished rearing our first litter of nine pups out of Nangar Freedom by Jungle Deuce which is really exciting,” Tracy Barnes said.
The couple, along with the Spratts, hoping in time to offer a “one stop shop” for prospective greyhound owners.
“We want to whelp dogs and rear dogs at our place, then we’ll send them to be broken in with Sandra and CHRIS before they go back off to the owners to race. We see that as an opening in the greyhound market. You’ve got a lot of syndicates buying dogs now and a lot of city centric people, and there’s not many places in the city where this type of education can happen,” Tracy Barnes said.
The grand plan sure to bring a smile to the faces of Dennis and Ann as inevitable retirement talks creep a little closer.
“Dad actually asked mum recently if they should retire and stop doing the dogs. Mum’s response was “don’t be silly Dennis, what will we do with ourselves”,” Tracy Barnes laughed.
