1969 St Ledger winner Beau Brin some race that year The Smoother finished 2nd Pied Rebel 3rd and Plunder Road unplaced. Beau Brin produced approximately 168 litters while at stud from 1969 to 1976. Jeff Collerson wrote the below piece as part of a story in 2014.
But Warren Harper’s unique achievement was winning the 1969 Paws Of Thunder (then called NSW St Leger) with Beau Brin, a maiden greyhound!
That extraordinary feat will never be equalled because races like the Paws Of Thunder are now restricted to the best 64 nominations so maidens can’t secure a start.
But in 1969 qualifying heats were staged for age classics and Beau Brin, an 40kg giant, scored his first win in the $4000 to the winner Paws Of Thunder final.
“At that time you could buy a semi-detached house in Maroubra for $4000 but Beau Brin tore a back leg muscle during his Paws Of Thunder win and never raced again,’’ Harper said.
“When I was a kid in the late 1940s and early 50s we lived next door to legendary trainer Albert Carter, in Briens Road, Northmead.
“Albert was widely regarded as the world’s best greyhound trainer and always had 30 to 40 greyhounds in work in his backyard.
“I never saw him weigh up a feed, he instinctively knew what each greyhound required and their weights never varied, while he even baked his own dog biscuits.
“Farrago, Albert’s champion of the early 1950s, would sometimes sleep on my bed, and when he was sold to the USA as a stud dog he became the first Australian greyhound to become a sire in America.”
It was not long before Harper junior was hooked on the sport.
