The end of an era has fallen upon an Australian sporting landmark as the greyhound races at an inner-city track kick off for the very last time.
Thousands packed into Wentworth Park in central Sydney on Friday night, where greyhound races have been held since 1932, for the last race meeting before the track’s planned demolition.
The final race of the night was the richest in the world – the Million Dollar Chase – and was won by Magical Ang.
For Geoff Rose, the closure is a sign of the times – the land in the inner-west suburb of Glebe is worth a fortune in a city where growth will not slow down.
But the NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners and Trainers Association chair remains sad to see the park go.
“It is quite heartbreaking to a lot of people,” he said.
Another spectator mourning the closure was Jeff Collerson, a veteran greyhound writer who first set foot on the track at Wentworth Park in December 1962 as a 17-year-old cadet journalist.
Now 81, he was trackside as the dogs raced around the circuit, nestled against the Sydney city skyline, for the final time and reminisced about his career.
He said the closure of what locals refer to affectionately as “Wenty” was tragic.
“I remember saying to my wife years ago, I want you to cast my ashes in front of the winning post at Wentworth Park, but I told her not to do that now,” Collerson said.
“Wentworth Park’s got a special aura about it that the other tracks won’t have … it’s got a special buzz to it.
“That will be lost forever because having a city track is just fantastic.”
All buildings are slated for demolition after October 2027, and the site is planned to be returned to parkland under the auspices of Sydney’s council.
Wentworth Park was created between 1876 and 1880 using silt dredged from Sydney’s harbour. Greyhound racing began in the park in 1932, and by the 1970s, the sport was attracting large crowds.
Greyhound Racing NSW, the state’s regulator for the sport, announced this week it had chosen the existing Richmond race club, about an hour north-west of central Sydney, as the replacement site for the industry.
Rose said his association was also exploring another option, which could see it establishing race meetings at a site near Appin, south-west of Sydney.
Either way, the state’s racing minister, David Harris, has previously promised $10m in government funding to help the industry find a new home – a move criticised by those calling for the industry to be shut down altogether.
Some have welcomed the track’s closure as a move towards the whole industry’s end.
A crowd of protesters stood outside the park as punters filed in, chanting that the sport kills dogs, and calling for an end to taxpayer dollars propping up the industry.
Aleisha Kernan and Kirsten Lambros work for Greyhounds as Pets, which helps facilitate the adoption of retired racing dogs.
Kernan said the sport’s potential new facilities would “open new avenues”.
“I think people should look at the future as well,” she said.
But for one young punter, Harry Dunlop, nothing would replace what he described as a “prominent piece of Australia”.
“It’s very unlikely that we’ll be going out to Richmond,” he said.