The race was important, no more so than to the seven finalists and particularly those connected with the eventual winner Ritza Debra. But there was more to Sunday’s Muswellbrook Cup meeting. On track, you could almost feel the beat of the heart of the greyhound industry pumping.
Despite needing to be moved to a morning timeslot due to intense heat predicted later in the day, a large crowd was in attendance and a genuine ‘vibe’ for the sport could be felt across the venue.
Asked about the significance of facilities in the country like Muswellbrook and Greyhound Racing NSW Board member Kevin Gordon acknowledged their importance.
“Absolutely. And I think this should be a yardstick for all country tracks to be set up similar to this. It’s a great venue,” he said.
“It's a great day, nice and warm and a great crowd and a great track. And to me this is the ultimate in country greyhound racing. Great facilities … very, very happy.
“It's fantastic and for owners and trainers and participants, it was only a few years ago that they were racing here for $300 now it’s $2,000, $3,000, $5,000 and $25,000 for the Cup race, and participants are very, very appreciative of what we've done.”
The new Muswellbrook was only opened back in April last year, after GRNSW made the decision to upgrade the facility, making it eligible to host more TAB racing. The culmination of the re-opening of the venue was the running of the richest event ever staged at Muswellbrook, Sunday’s Ladbrokes Muswellbrook Cup where the winner took home $25,000.
“It’s been a fantastic day here and everyone's had a brilliant time and Ritza Debra ran a smoking race to break the Muswellbrook track record,” GRNSW Chief Executive Officer Rob Macaulay said.
“It’s hard to believe it was only nine months ago since we opened the brand new track at this revamped facility here at Muswellbrook, and to look at it today and see the local crowd that has turned up, it is very gratifying. It's nice to have a beautiful grass track on a beautiful Summer’s day.
“And there are tons of young people and tons of young women getting more involved in greyhound racing. It's really good. We've got quite a few young trainers here today and it’s a great sign that all those nice people are getting involved in greyhound racing.”
One thing which was evident at Muswellbrook was family. It’s the nature of the sport, and that was clear with the Cup winner.
Trained by Mark Gatt, owned by his father Frank who used to race at Muswellbrook in the 1980s and 1990s, and transported and handled at the track by Mark’s brother Daniel, himself an accomplished Group 1 winning trainer - and, with the next generation, Daniel’s son Liam, there helping his dad.
“This has got that extra feeling to it. I brought my son Liam up with me this morning so it means even more. It's great,” Daniel said.
“This industry it’s a generation to generation thing, and it’s family. We're a close family, and to be able to share this with my son makes it even better.
“This industry is about family. You look at. It's like your husbands and wives, your brothers and sisters, mothers and daughters. It's fantastic. It's what it's all about.”
Ritza Debra
Not only did the Gatts win the Cup, their other runner Leg Speed – who set the track record last week in the heats at 32.62s – ran home to grab second albeit eight lengths behind his kennelmate who smashed the track record with a 32.45s performance over the 571m trip. Third place went to Group 1 winner Embrace for Craig Chappelow.
“I thought off last week she (Ritza Debra) had the most improvement out of our two,” Daniel said.
“Her future is unlimited, I think. I think we could still drop her back to 500m and I think she's got some a future over the 500m, but 600m eventually is going to be her’s and then dream about the 700m. If she's going to run 700m she will be anything.”
