Les Dennis, whose greyhound Father Skeeta recently scored his fifth Wentworth Park win, got his first greyhound over 58 years ago but was out of the sport for over 30 years due to his unusual occupation.
“I was a beekeeper for more than three decades,’’ the 75-year-old said.
“When I was growing up around the Queanbeyan district my father Bill was a funeral director at Yass while my uncle was a beekeeper.
“It seemed I had only two choices, to become an undertaker or a beekeeper, and I didn’t want to work in a funeral parlor.
“My father’s old firm, W T Dennis & Son, still exists in Yass but I opted for beekeeping.
"While the work was hard, and stopped me from training greyhounds, I enjoyed it.
“I would load up a truck with hives and bees and go all over NSW following the blossoms.
“Most of my colleagues would return home on weekends to extract the honey from the hives but I usually completed that task while camping camp out in the bush."
Despite his interesting occupation, Dennis said he never lost his love for greyhounds.
“My first greyhound when I was 17, was a giveaway and soon after I trained my first winner, Grocon, in the 1950s," he said.
“Grocon and his brother South Creek were handy greyhounds and were by Sunview who became the sire of Best Sun, winner of the inaugural National Sprint Championship in 1965.
“Grocon scored his first win on the now defunct Cootamundra track, while I also raced a lot at Queanbeyan and Gundagai - both courses now long gone.
“While most of the tracks in the 1950s and 60s were grass, Gundagai had the most wonderful loam surface.
“The loam was said to be 80 feet deep because the track was built over of the Murrumbidgee River Flats.
“One of the leading local trainers when I started out was Neville Hand, who had been selected in the 1949 Australian Kangaroos Rugby League side.
“His team mates included the likes of Clive Churchill, Fred De Belin, Johnny Hawke and Doug McRitchie and he was signed up by North Sydney where he became their first grade captain."
Dennis enjoyed a first city winner with Sir Dention, who he says is still the best greyhound he has raced.
“He was trained for me on the NSW South Coast by Jimmy McMahon, who prepared the top class Harold Park sprinters Royal Rupert and Master Machine," Dennis said.
“Sir Denton won at Harold Park on April 14, 1984 and went within .14 of the Moss Vale record four months later.
“Unfortunately he broke down and had to be retired after winning seven of his only 13 starts.
“When I retired from bee-keeping I got back into greyhounds in 2007 and had success with greyhounds like It’s A Skeeta, who won 10 of 28 races, Lady Skeeta, who won eight, and Madam Collision, who had four wins and five seconds despite being born with a deformed leg.
“Then I paid $1500 apiece for a pair of 12month-old puppies, whelped in 2007 and bred by Paul Roach, a neighbour of mine.
“I named them Miss Flea and Madam Jessie and when they were educated the reports were that Miss Flea was “an express’’ but Madam Jessie was ordinary.
“However Miss Flea snapped an Achilles tendon and never reached the racetrack, while Madam Jessie went on to win 10 of 44 races.
“She not only won at her first Wentworth Park outing in May 2010, but she is the mother of Father Skeeta and Rexy Skeeta, who have won a half dozen Wenty races between them.
Dennis has enjoyed success at Wentworth Park but rates Richmond as his favourite track.
“Not only do the dogs get plenty of room to move there, but the tucker is pretty good too!" he said.
“When it comes to dogs Fernando Bale, this year's Golden Easter Egg and National Derby winner, is simply sensational.
“But it is hard to compare greyhounds from different eras because the tracks are so much faster now.
“So while Fernando Bale could become the best, the finest sprinter I’ve seen would have to be Roman Earl, while of course Zoom Top is unequalled for versatility.’’
Roman Earl, joint NSW Greyhound of the Year in 1966, won 18 of 26 races and broke or equalled the Wentworth Park record on three occasions.
Les Dennis is truly an Australian original, a real old-style “bushie’’ who can unwittingly come out with some great quotes.
At Wenty on March 28 Father Skeeta was drawn in race 10 and Les admitted to being so tired he worried about being able to drive solo from Glebe to his home at Lidsdale, around two-and-a-half hours away.
When I phoned the following day to check on him, he replied: “After Father Skeeta won I could have driven until daybreak!’’
