By Suzanne McKenzie
The Healesville Greyhound Racing Association put on a great day of racing and entertainment in aid of the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal today.
The event featured live music by The Big City Beat, a BBQ and the chance to win a $15,000 Mitsubishi Mirage.
Special guest Jack Viney, co-captain of the Melbourne Demons, was on hand to meet people and sign autographs. He spoke about the connection between AFL players and greyhound racing, saying that quite a few players across the AFL had an interest in a greyhound.
Viney has a Burmese mountain dog at home, which is considerably slower than a greyhound, but couldn’t be persuaded to take home something a little faster as a second pet.
The manager of the Healesville club, Cynthia O’Brien, said it was a fantastic day and thanked people for their support.
“The club had raised $5,300 for the Good Friday Appeal prior to today, and that figure grew to more than $7,000 after today’s fundraiser.
“We’re very happy to support such an important cause, it’s great to give back to the community.”
Greyhound trainer, Gordon Edwards from Cranbourne, was the lucky winner of the car.
“Gordon couldn’t believe it when we broke the news to him, he said it had made his Easter,” Cynthia said.
“We’ve also run a trainer’s raffle over the past eight weeks which raised about $800. That was drawn today and won by Adam Richardson, a trainer from Bushfield, which is near Warrnambool.”
The feature race on the day was a Special Event over 350 metres, which was won by the Greg Paez-trained Bourbon An Khan.
Greg Paez with winner of Race 8 Bourbon An Kahn
Jack Viney with Race 5 winner Ear We Come
