I have been going to the dogs since the days of harold park in the 60s even went to all the maiden trials on a monday night i love the dogs and miss the days when the ring was full of punters and the atmosphere of all the boys doing their best.

best dog i ever saw was Zoom Top

hi welcome to a great site

best dog i see race bretlee, an welcome

Yes I agree with all you have said. The best dogs I ever saw in those days were Roman Earl, Zoom Top, Sammy Sparrow, Rose Moss and Pearl Moss, The Shoe, Swanky Beau, Pied Rebel, Second Stage, Rokoko, Pay Cart, Petite Panther, Bunyip Bint (One of the best nonnies I've ever seen) Only Ten, Sara Princess, Faraflash, Silent Retreat.

Can you remember any of them Roman mate?

coops

Coops
I remember them all but zoom top was a freak and i think at 1 stage she held all the records from 300YDS to 800YDS at the same time. not 100% sure but 99.95% that she once had 5 starts in a week 1st was 300yds ending with a 800 at Harold Park and won them all.

Farraflash would give away impossible starts over 790 at wenty and make its move at the 790 boxes next time round every time.

only tenhow unlucky was she because she had to contend with zoom top

The shoe quickest dog i ever saw on a 1 turn track

Bunyip Bint have you ever seen a dog that pulled up like she would on the turn into the back straight at HP.then come out and run 42.7 a few weeks later only to pull up again the next week.

Roman Earlincredible box dog and explosive speed rarely led at wenty but could not handle HP as well.he was the 1st dog to break 31 seconds on the old grass track at wenty.

Coops were you a ledger man in those days ?

Those were the day when you could get set for whatever you like.look at this old tote pic from Wenty Park in early 70s and note the pools. 73K in the win 52K the place and 42K the quinella.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/indi.gif

Aww Roman mate, I could talk about those terrific day back then forever.
You must know me mate, we must have met in the ledger. lol
Yes you could get set with he bookies no matter what price (If you where quick enough to get to them through the crowd before the others.) many times we have missed the prices which we wanted because you simply couldn't get through the thousands of people at Harold park. I have seen many a bookmaker get knocked of their stands through the rush.lol
It's nice to have those memories and it's nice to talk to some one who was there at the same time as me.
Onya Roman mate.

coops

No doubt i would know you and those were certainly the days when if you finished broke you could always snip Porky Wiley for a few hundred till next meeting.
what about when a storm come through and the lights on the track would explode could you imagine the uproar if that happend today.

I can't believe you can remember that mate. mate don't tell Porky where I am.lol.

We used to have another fella on here that knew the old days too but he's gone missing somewhere. he hasn't been on here for yonks.
We used to talk about the things that went on in those days with setting dogs up and what people used to give their dogs to send them. never a dull moment in those days. These days are so well cleaned up in that department that not many people get away with that stuff. There are probably still a few cluey blokes around though I reckon.
can you remember when they used to qualify for maiden races at Harold Park and all the dogs where assembled around the bookie area waiting for there heats and when there was a group race (as they call them today) it was open to all comers to qualify even maidens. Can you remember when TOP KABANA won his maiden at Harold park in a time of 26.4. he was the fasted maiden ever to have run that time back then.

coops

Yeah Coops i remember Top Kabana running that time also. and what about when they had the Macau trials for slow dogs to be sold to Macau if they broke 27.8 i think it was.they were that slow most of them would be juiced up for the trials. and remember when they didnt do the box draw until 6pm on racenights.

Here is a funny story from the 70s.

A mate said to me i am going to plonk plenty on Early Copy tonight at Harold park you want to earn 3 k no matter if it wins or loses and i will pay you before the race.

Sure i said what do i have to do for this honour of relieving you of 3 K .

He said i will let you know tonight at HP just dont let anyone know im going to have a bundle on it.so i arrive at HP and its in a later race but he says nothing until the race before is over then he gives me a teddy bear and 3 k.

I looked puzzled and he said now go and stand in the car park half way up the home straight and if its not in front toss the bear on the track in front of the field and get the @#$# out of there as they will have to call it a no race

anyway its about 8 in front approaching me backed from 2-1 to 5-4 on so i dont have to throw.so off i go back up to the betting ring and he has a smile like a sabre tooth tiger.

Then Shadow comes over the public address and says

Would the person who lost a object in the car park please collect it from the secretaries office aughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the teddy bear fell out of my back kick when i was coming back and i didnt know until then

pick it up like #@$%#$% hell i will