Edna Fennell, wife of Glencoe trainer Dean and a regular at Tara Raceway meetings, recently came across what she felt was an interesting book while wandering through a local second-hand shop.

The book was titled Greyhounds and Mechanical Lure Racing by William H. Bracht and had first been published in 1972 and reprinted in 1973.

The 192-page hard cover book covers pretty well everything relating to greyhound racing from breeding, Australian greyhound bloodlines, the sire and the brood bitch, whelping and rearing, and feeding, educating and training a greyhound.

The book is dedicated to the greatest living greyhound in Australia, possibly the world – Black Top.

And Bracht devoted a chapter to Black Top.

“He and his descendants will play leading roles in the future of greyhound breeding and racing.”

Interestingly, Departure Gate, winner of the 2022 Group 3 Mount Gambier Cup and Greyhound of the Year, traces back to Black Bonna, a daughter of Black Top and Black Tam.

Bracht also wrote in detail of NSW trainer Hec Watt and his legendary bitch Zoom Top who won 68 races from 320 yards up the straight at Richmond to all distances from 440 yards to 872 yards.

Although Zoom Top was considered by some to be over-raced by Australian standards, Watt said he believed that when a dog was in racing condition, was physically sound and given proper attention it could be raced three times a week.

And to quote Norm Smith, manager of Harold Park and the NSW GBOTA, “People still talk about Chief Havoc and the races he won, but they will talk about Zoom Top forever as the greatest of the greats.”