Kanahooka trainer Glen Goodwin was sitting in a bar in Las Vegas a few years back when a local noticed his tattoo of a greyhound.
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"I got this tattoo of a greyhound after I won a Group 1," he explained.
"I'm sitting there is Vegas and this fellow says, 'Oh you've got a greyhound there man. Where are you all from?' I said I'm from Australia mate, and he goes, 'Oh the Dapto dogs'.
"That says it all.
"It doesn't matter where in the world you go. You could talk about Dapto and they wouldn't know how many people live here, but they all know there's a dog track here.
"They used to run a train out of Sydney to Dapto, and the trainers put the dogs on the train and they would come down and walk from the train station to the track and they'd race, and then walk back to the station and head home."
While the trains are no longer, Dapto has continued to race at the Showgrounds since 1937, but following the announcement from Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) at the end of January, Dapto is about to grow bigger and stronger.
A new dog track, with land on Bong Bong Road, has been purchased by GRNSW as a site for a new $11 million state-of-the-art facility.
The news adds to the comeback story for Goodwin and his fellow local participants.
In 2019 the Dapto Agricultural and Horticultural Society announced greyhound racing would cease at the track.
An agreement was reached with GRNSW to allow the organisation to lease the venue, but it was clear a new facility needed to be found.
"It was extremely tough on everyone back then," Goodwin recalls.
"We didn't know what the future held. Tony Mestrov (former CEO) and the team, and Rob (Macaulay, now GRNSW CEO) who was part of the legal team back then, did a tremendous job and managed to keep us racing. But we all knew that something else had to be found, and now we've got it.
"The news is absolutely fantastic, and there's an electric feel around the industry down here now.
"It will be an extremely sad night when we race for the last time here, but like everything, one door closes and another one opens. I think prospects of what we could have - what we will have - will far outweigh that little bit of sadness.
"I'm 65, but if I was 25 I'd be putting another shed up.
"I have nine dogs in work now. I'd have 29 in work if I was younger. It's an exciting time for everyone down here."
GRNSW chief executive officer Rob Macaulay said that the new venue will include a two-turn track with an emphasis on safety, and the site will also have a Greyhounds As Pets facility which will be central to the expansion of re-homing plans locally and beyond.
"The plan is to develop state of the art welfare facilities, the world's best practice, keeping in line with the best welfare and integrity results in the sport's history," he said.
"The site will not only be a racing venue with scope for significant community-based usage, it will also be multi-functional with the potential for other sports to have use of the facility.
"We will engage the local community and stakeholders in that process to identify everything that can be done at the site for the best of all the community."
This article was produced as part of an ACM partnership with Greyhound Racing NSW.
