Greg Board hit the ground running as a greyhound trainer nearly 50 years ago and since returning to NSW two months back he has shown he still knows a thing or two about the lead and collar.
He was successful at Wentworth Park on Saturday night with Spring Honour, his second starter at headquarters since his return, after winning with Spring Cocktail at Goulburn on Friday.
And Spring Cocktail's Goulburn success followed her win at the same track a week earlier, when Board also racked up four second placings with her kennelmates.
Greg Board surprised everyone in 2017 when he and his wife Helen moved from ORANGE to Murray Bridge, South Australia, to continue his greyhound training career.
Board was an instant hit in SA , averaging 70 to 80 winners annually, winning several trainers' premierships and regularly featuring among the state's top 10 trainers.
"When we went to SA I promised Helen it would not be forever,'' Board, 72, said.
"At the time I was suffering throat cancer and was told I would be dead in three months.
"But the cancer has gone, I've had a clean bill of health, and because Helen and I have nine grand-children in NSW we came back because we were missing them so much.''
Greg Board was originally a professional rodeo rider, winning the Australasian bull-riding championship in 1974 along with the bareback buckjumping title.
"Because I was getting busted up a fair bit I decided to look for another interest,'' he said.
"My brother Rick had a service station at Davistown, near Gosford, and a couple of greyhound trainers used to drop in regularly there to get fuel on the way to the dogs.
"They got me interested in the sport and before long I bought a dog called Happy Meteor from Eric Lansdown, a leading trainer at the time.
"For his first race I took the dog to Tamworth and thought he was a certainty because he had gone well there in a trial for me.
"In those days Tamworth was a pretty strong betting ring and being a cocky young bloke I approached a bookie and asked for a big bet on my dog.
"He said he didn't think he could beat a top local greyhound in the race but I told him that if my dog didn't win by five lengths he would win by 10 lengths.
"After the race I apologised to the bookie because Happy Meteor won by 15 lengths and ran a tick outside the course record.''
Since then Board has seldom been without a smart greyhound, his best being Spring Secret, Spring Gun and Spring Gladiator.
Spring Secret won the 2004 Richmond Derby and Bulli Gold Plate, was a placegetter in the 2004 Golden Easter Egg and in the 2003 Melbourne Cup and Tab Topgun.
Spring Gun won the 2011 Group 1 Vic Peters Classic at Wentworth Park and was later an outstanding success at stud.
"I owned them and trained them early in their career before handing them over to Christine and Ron Oldfield but I always trained Gladiator, who won his first 12 starts and then took out a Bathurst Cup and an ORANGE Cup,'' Board recalled.
"He was going to be an absolute champion but took a tumble in a Canberra Cup and was never the same dog subsequently.''
These days Greg Board is training a small team at Forest Reefs, 20 minutes from ORANGE, and is confident he can regain his glory years in the sport.
