My hot dogs

Andrew Mathieson
UTTER the name Ibrox to Graeme Bate and there’s suddenly a jump in the stoutly 60-year-old’s step.
The greyhound single-handedly launched the career of the promising Lara trainer toward building a dynasty.
She went on to win Victorian greyhound of the year in 1977 and Graeme the first of his 13 consecutive top trainer awards.
“She was a superstar; she was the best dog you would ever want to see,” he glowingly proclaims.
“What happened because of her success was I got a lot of other dogs. She got me on my way.
“I ended up training a string of dogs that were all top cup kings.”
Graeme pulls out a dishevelled scrapbook and eyes off newspaper headlines from 30 years ago.
He reads aloud: ‘Graeme Bate is on his way’.
“Is he now?” Graeme whispers to himself.
He flicks through the next few pages where the papers announce: ‘Ibrox the Great’, ‘Ibrox is tops’ and ‘Ibrox proves top start for Sydney Cup’.
“She had seven starts in Sydney for seven wins,” Graeme adds.
He then abruptly points to photos of the dog.
“Oh, there’s the car she won,” he smiles.
“I put her on the front seat.
“And there she is with the cat, licking the cat’s bowl. Actually, she was the cat’s best mate.”
For a wide-eyed Graeme, greyhounds have always been a hobby.
His dad had them for hunting in the days when money was tight and families caught half their meals.
But it was an elderly next-door neighbour who had been cut down by a car crash that first asked Graeme to walk his dogs.
“Instead of walking them, I started running them miles around Lara and up the back blocks because I thought running would be better,” Graeme says.
“Then I started free galloping and it revolutionised training in greyhounds.
“Anybody back then who was running their dogs, greyhound people would think they were stupid.
“But I started thinking to myself that it was stupid to walk dogs when there’s no walking races.”
Ridiculed in some circles, Graeme was to scale down his training workload to avoid burnout.
He purchased Ibrox a walking machine but that made things worse.
“She had just broke the Olympic Park track record,” Graeme recalls, “but when I changed back to their methods she lost six or eight lengths.
“Fortunately. it was still enough to win.”
Graeme stayed true to what he believed and paid $36,000 for the unfinished Anakie trial track.
Soon trainers would line the road early each morning outside his track just to give their dogs a run.
The former electrician quit his job then and has since made a mint from training, winning and betting.
Just ask about one dog, Firelad, at Sydney Cup.
“I went to the Geelong dogs one night and I won a few thousand dollars on a trifecta on the last race,” Graeme tells.
“When I flew up for the Sydney Cup the next day, the dog opened up to 30 or 40-1 because in Sydney there are twice as many bookmakers.
“The dog was a terrific chance because he was a wide runner, had box eight and I thought he’d lead a long way.
“Well, I ended up knocking off all the bookies there and won about $40,000 on the race.”
Graeme won three Melbourne Cups, including training a 1999 cup trifecta, as well as five “unlucky” places.
But he’s still a nervous watcher at the track.
“I don’t like people being near me,” Graeme cringes.
“Half way through a race when I’m five lengths in front they like to tell me I’m home.”