Greyhound racing helping young family
This article was published in the Daily Advertiser on 10 March 2022.
Greyhound racing is proving to be an addictive challenge for Chris Newcombe and a way to help his young family.
Initially Newcombe was looking for an interest as an owner but decided to take on training last year.
He’s got seven wins to his credit so far and is chasing more.
Newcombe lines up two of his three greyhounds, Dana Maggie and Kaique, on the 11-race card.
Dana Maggie is looking to back up her heat win in one of the features – the Ladbrokes Switch 5th Grade Series Final (400m).
“She’s been jumping well from the boxes in her past few races, and she wasn’t doing that before,” Newcombe said.
“She got a bit tangled up in a couple of races at Temora, which upset me a little bit, but in her heat she really flew out of the boxes and went a PB of 23.15 (seconds).
“She’s fit, she’s well and is definitely on her toes at home so I can’t see any reason why she can’t do it again.”
His other hopeful is Kaique – the greyhound who really sparked his interest in the sport.
He originally purchased the bitch as a way to catch up with his brothers but it’s turned into a lot more.
“Horse racing is too expensive and I’ve always had dogs as pets, not specifically greyhounds, and I feel in tune with dogs and their behaviour,” Newcombe said.
“I enjoy their company.”
He’s also been thrilled with the positive impact it’s had on his two sons, Braxdyn, 9, and Laiken, 8, who both have autism.
“Both my young children are autistic and I could see they had developed quite a fancy to the dogs as well, so much so one of our pet boxers is pretty much one of the boy’s therapy dogs,” Newcombe said.
“It helps with their sensory processing and emotional regulation so I thought I’d try to do something different and get into racing.
“I had a couple of friends who were already involved and had been trainers for many, many years so I decided to get involved.
“That’s when I ended up buying Kaique from Melbourne in partnership with my two brothers so we could go to the track together to catch up once a week.”
Kaique hasn’t got great form on the board, with only one placing in her last 16 starts.
However that was a winning effort and off the way she’s feeling Newcombe would be far from surprised if she produced another big effort.
“She is starting to wind down now that she’s hit three years of age and I’ve just got this feeling she is ready to be a mum,” he said.
“She still loves her racing but has lost that little bit of speed, as they do when they get a little bit older, so she will keep going for as long as she wants to. She’s bouncing off the walls as well and you never know what you’re going to get with her.”