ONE of the agenda items at the January committee meeting of the Warrnambool Racing Club relates to what accolade the club can give long serving clerk-of-the-course Leo Dwyer.
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Dwyer announced last Thursday he is retiring from the role at the end of this month after working in the job for 58 consecutive Warrnambool May Racing Carnivals.
He will don the red coat and head out to do his clerk duties on his trusted horse for three more meetings.
The Port Fairy Cup to be run at Warrnambool this Thursday, the Penshurst Cup on Boxing Day before finishing up at the Woodford meeting on December 31.
Three years ago Woodford handed out a life membership to the father of seven. Warrnambool broke with a long tradition of keeping life memberships in house (giving them to fellow committee members) when it bestowed the honour to former top Camperdown jockey Neville Wilson three years ago for his services to racing.
Former leading stewards Des Gleeson and Ray Murrihy received honorary life memberships two years ago for their deeds to the sport. Gleeson, who was a steward for more then 36 years said Dwyer was a natural horseman who has done a marvellous job in the demanding role.
"There are times at some race meetings the stewards worry about the clerk-of-courses," Gleeson said. "But that has not happened at Warrnambool with Leo in charge. He's been an incredible horseman and highly respected at all levels in racing. Warrnambool has been lucky that its had a steady group of clerks-of course in Leo's children Anne, Eddie and Janet plus Ray Walsh in place. Anne, Eddie and Janet are very competent horse people who have followed in their dad's footsteps."
It's an obvious choice that Warrnambool bestows life membership at its January committee meeting on Dwyer for his long service to racing and in particular to the May Racing Carnival.
A fitting time to hand out the accolade would be at next year's May Carnival - just before the Grand Annual Steeplechase. His record of working at 58 consecutive Warrnambool May Carnivals will never be broken.
While handing out the life membership to Dwyer, Warrnambool should add another long-serving, respected racing figure to its life membership list. That is local steward Frank Beattie, who has filled the role for 54 years in February next year. Beattie started out as an apprentice jockey with the late Warrnambool trainer Kevin Lafferty before saddling into the steward's job.
* Leo Dwyer is related to Tim Auld.
No regrets
PROMISING Warrnambool filly Paul's Regret will head back to Melbourne to contest a $135,000 fillies race at Moonee Valley on December 28, after scoring an impressive victory against fillies in a $50,000 race at the Valley last Friday.
Paul's Regret beat Namimo and Hot In Paris in the race over 1200 metres. She ran second at her racecourse debut at Geelong in August and her trainer Peter Chow was confident the three-year-old would run well on Friday night.
"We went there very confident Paul's Regret would run well," Chow said. "She had trialled up really well at Warrnambool. We've always had a high opinion of her. I would say going forward we're going to have a lot of fun with Paul's Regret. She handles wet ground and will appreciate races over more ground then 1200 metres."
From her two starts Paul's Regret has won more then $50,000 in stakemoney for her connections.
Riding charges
WANGOOM Handicap winning jockey Stan Tsaikos was found guilty of a careless riding charge following his ride on Arrest The Shadow at Wangaratta on Saturday.
Stewards found that passing the winning post on the first occasion Tsaikos permitted Arrest The Shadow to shift in when insufficiency clear of Friday Funday, which was restrained to avoid his mounts heels.
His suspension commences at midnight on December 18 and ends midnight December 26. Stewards took into account his good record in relation to this rule and deemed the incident to be in the low range.
Tsaikos won the 1998 Warrnambool Wangoom Handicap on M'Sele De Enz.
Meanwhile, fellow jockey Jordon Childs pleaded guilty to a careless riding charge at Bendigo on Sunday. The charge related to his ride on Greetie. Childs is out from midnight on December 18, until midnight December 26.
Sheehan role
POPULAR identity Paul Sheehan is the ambassador for the Port Fairy race day at Warrnambool this Thursday.
Sheehan's list of achievements in Port Fairy are legendary and he's a worthy recipient to spread the word of the annual race meeting. The Moyne Shire conservatively estimates Sheehan hasbeen primarily responsible for injecting more than $1 million worth of funds into various sporting bodies within Port Fairy over the last 40 years plus raising funds for local health charities. He has also contributed lots of his own time - all completely voluntary - to improve sport administration and facilities within his Port Fairy.Sheehan will be in attendance with guests, trainer Daniel Bowman and jockey Declan Bates, to launch the race meeting at a function in Port Fairy on Wednesday night.
Closing times
WITH the big holiday break coming up - owners and trainers are reminded that closing times for entries and acceptances for races over Christmas and the New Year do change. Please refer to your racing calendar for those changes.
