First time owner Peter Hilton-Wood experienced his biggest thrill in greyhound racing last Thursday night.
He and his family were down from Mildura on a holiday and attended their first ever greyhound track. It was one to remember with their own Beanbag taking out her 9th career win at odds of $10.
“We were down here on a holiday in St. Kilda and found out she (Beanbag) was racing, so it was the perfect opportunity to come down and have a look. I don’t usually put money on her but I did tonight, it helps out with paying for the holiday!” laughed Hilton-Wood.
Before being a part-owner of Beanbag he’d never seen a greyhound race before. He was invited to join a syndicate by two colleagues, with the affordability factor the main reason he decided to get involved.
“The three of us in the syndicate are from Mildura. I got into it as a bit of fun with work colleagues, one of the other guys is more involved with it all – he was the one who initiated it. It didn’t cost much to get involved, that’s why I decided to be a part of it.”
Often owners spend a lot of time brainstorming what to name their racing greyhound. For Peter’s family, it was a matter of a piece of furniture catching the eye of his son.
“My youngest boy Max, he was the one who named Beanbag. We were sitting around the loungeroom and I said ‘we’ve got to name this dog’. We all came up with names, I asked Max what his choice was. He looked around the living room and saw a bean bag, then chose that. I suggested the name to the other syndicate members, and it stuck.”
Beanbag, trained by Team Sharp Greyhound Racing, is 43 starts into her career and has won almost $40,000 in prize money.
“We follow her every race. We either watch her on Sky at home or go down to the pub for it with the other two owners.”
Earlier in the night Rippin’ Sam announced himself as an up and coming star of the staying ranks. Click here for the full story
