18 February 2014

Valentine's Romance at the Greyhounds ~ Wentworth Park


This Valentine's Day has gone to the dogs.



We love exploring sides of Sydney that are fast disappearing from the fabric of everyday life. The trots have gone from Harold Park, and Wentworth Park holds on as one of the few inner city greyhound tracks in the world. It's amazing how close you are to the city, with Sydney Tower peaking out over the buildings.



We had been itching to get to the dishlickers for a long time, sensing it could be on the edge of closure in a few years and potentially become apartments like Harold Park. When we discovered the races were on Valentines Day, it was the perfect meeting of occasion and location.

What we didn't know was the super Valentine's special put on for Friday night - $10 entry (usually $6) got you entry, race book, imported beer and a burger or fish and chips. Bargain!



Does Valentines Day get any more romantic than this?



There's also a bistro but Alison thought if Shawn bought her a $20 steak that was a bit too close to a real Valentines dinner.



Dessert is sherbert cones from the icecream van. Sherbert cones are way tastier than we are prepared to admit.



No 1 John's Joy five bucks on the nose was not a wise investment. He came in second last.



When you've gotta go...



You can watch the dogs get dressed before the race. There's lots of owner-doggy smooching and cuddling going on. Greyhounds are very schmoopy.



The hounds get walked around before they race.



The dogs seem pretty calm until they see the orange robo-rabbit hurling around the track.



We all need a cuddle when we get overexcited.



While we have philosophical objections to the treatment of racing animals, a night at the dishlickers is a lot of fun. Sitting trackside with a beer is indeedy pleasant on a summer evening. Even good looking people go.

There's a number of great programs that support the re homing of racing greyhounds, including: Greenhounds, which supports muzzle exemptions for pet greyhounds, Greyhound Rescue which adopts out greyhounds (the success stories are wonderful), Greyhound Adoption Program NSW (Inc) and Friends of the Hound. Greyhounds are supermodels without the attitude.

2 comments:

  1. I've been to one of these tracks for the trots - great fun. Yet to see a dog race - they look kinda cute :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, nice review! Thanks.
    We have our biggest event of the year on Easter Saturday racing wise (not dog cuddling wise as that goes on at every race meeting). There is a 4 hour dinner and beverage function on for $110pp that night so give me a yell if interested as I'll shout you a discount ;-)
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).