The long-time face of straight track racing, Cynthia O’Brien has announced that she will be retiring from her position as General Manager of the Healesville Greyhound Association (HGA) at the end of June.
Cynthia gained her owner/trainer/breeder license in 1975 and has been a driving force in the industry ever since.
Commencing her greyhound racing administration career at Healesville in 2003, Cynthia also held roles as the CEO of Canberra Greyhounds and was also the manager of Shepparton before returning to Healesville as manager in 2012.
At the 2021 Victorian Greyhound Awards, the queen of straight track racing was awarded the GRV leadership award due to her passion and commitment to the promotion of greyhound racing across all facets of administration, breeding, education, owning and training.
Cynthia has always shown a strong determination to strive for the betterment of the clubs she has been involved in, including gaining SKY Channel coverage at Canberra for greyhound racing and their Cup Carnival racing event(s), founding the ‘Women on Track’ event, introducing the National Straight Track Championships which now involves Murray Bridge, Capalaba, Richmond and of course, Healesville.
Always an advocate for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, Cynthia has been an integral part in raising money through a wide variety of initiatives and was a crucial part of bringing Good Friday racing to Healesville as the club became the first Victorian greyhound track to race on Good Friday with the aim of raising further money for the appeal.
In recent years, Cynthia has been the catalyst behind the creation of innovative races; The Arrow, The Emerald and The Member’s Trophy, while also conducting the richest straight track race in Australia, The Group 2 Healesville Cup each year.
The search for Cynthia’s replacement will be conducted shortly with the position to be advertised in the coming days.
For further information please contact HGA administrator Scott Wuchatsch at swuchatsch@grv.org.au or (03) 9355 5222.
