Master trainer and breeder Dennis Barnes has been supporting greyhound racing in the Northern Rivers of NSW for more than three decades.
So when Greyhound Racing NSW introduced two new middle distance races for the region in 2024 - The Richmond and The Clarence - Barnes couldn’t wait to get back to his home away from home with kennel star Nangar Lucy.
“We always planned to race around Gosford [in the Summer Six-Hundy] and then target ‘The Richmond’ at Casino because she’s only 25.2kg and a real tight tracker,” Barnes said.
“Plus I’ve been coming up here for 36 years for the WINTER carnival, we love racing up here and the locals and their dogs have been crying out for races like this in the region so we were happy to support it.”
The 70-year-old tickled pink with the performance of ‘Lucy’ on Thursday, with the daughter of Fernando Bale x Fancy Dancer flying out of the boxes and running her rivals into the ground.
The Group 1 winning bitch claiming the first heat of ‘The Richmond’ in a time of 35.65, over five lengths clear of Wiangaree local, Distant Flash.
“She’s starting to get back to where she was when she won the Peter Mosman. She absolutely pinged the lids that night and that’s how she came out again in the heat, hopefully she can keep it up,” Barnes added.
Barnes’ pursuit of the new $25,000 feature buoyed by his families decision to set up a base camp in the North of the State rather than travel the 10 hours back and forth between Cudal and Casino.
“We made a decision a while ago that instead of dragging the caravan around, we’d build something a bit more permanent to avoid the travel,” Barnes said.
“We’ve got a nice setup in Grafton and we put six kennels into the place as well so the dogs are comfortable as well. I’m a 50m walk away from the Grafton track, it’s only an hour from here to Casino and we can get to Albion Park pretty quickly from here as well.”
Nangar Lucy has already accumulated more than $175,000 in prizemoney for the Tracsan Racing Syndicate. Photo: Lisa Van Der Stok Photography
Barnes also quickly ruling out a potential tilt at the $5,000 bonus looming for any greyhound that can win both ‘The Richmond’ and ‘The Clarence’.
“I don’t think she’ll go to Grafton even if she does win [The Richmond]. She hasn’t raced there but I’ve trialled her a few times and she doesn’t go well on the bigger track. So we’ll focus on this final first and then I guess we’ll look around for the best Country Classic qualifier,” Barnes declared.
Nangar Lucy is likely to start a prohibitive favourite for Tuesday’s final despite a potentially sticky Box 4 draw.
But one local trying to rain on the visitor’s parade will be rising staying star Doing FINE.
The Mick Patterson-prepared chaser wearing down long-time leader, Seven Sinners, in the second of ‘The Richmond’ preliminaries to make it back-to-back victories over the middle distance.
“There was a bit of luck involved but I hoped Seven Sinners would lead and give us a cart across into the race. Once we got to her back without much trouble, I thought he was a big chance of running over the top and he hit the line pretty well,” Patterson said.
“My guy has been notoriously slow away to begin his career and he was getting knocked around a bit because of it, so I put him up in trip because he’s a very strong dog. As you get over 600 or 700m, they aren’t jumping as fast so know he’s getting a bit of a go and building his confidence.”
Doing FINE now a four-time winner from just a dozen career starts, and already drawing high praise from Patterson ahead of his first feature final.
“He’s an exciting prospect. He broke 35 seconds in his first ever look at the 600 up in Brisbane and only good dogs can do that, that’s when I knew he was handy,” Patterson said with excitement.
“This corner start business is still a bit tricky for him though so he will need a bit of luck in the final, but Box 8 should suit him. He’s not going to be charging over and he won’t have anything coming down on him either. I hope he runs well but I have no doubt when he gets up to 700, we will see the best of him.”
The trainer of Group 1 winning star, He Knows Uno, also thrilled with the introduction of the two middle distance features in his backyard.
“It’s terrific that Casino and Grafton are being promoted with these two new races. You’re also giving people hope that they can put their dog up in trip. One thing I’ve been critical of over the years is finding races for good staying dogs in NSW. These sort of races help bridge the gap and give you a good idea of whether a dog can stay or not,” Patterson added.
