THE Hawkesbury’s Joanne and John Zammit are true Aussie battlers, but Friday night will bring a glimmer of positive light, to a past that has been very trying recently.
The hobby greyhound trainers have a dog racing in Friday’s $100,000 Globe Memorial Richmond Riches final.
It is a David and Goliath match-up for Pick It Up, the Zammit’s runner, who will race against favourites Mister Twister and Fast Times.
The race series features dogs bought in the 2015 puppy auction.
Mister Twister, trained by one of NSW’s top trainers in Jason Mackay, was sold for $21,000. In contrast, Pick It Up went for just $1200.
Joanne Zammit said Pick It Up was purchased not long she had been released from hospital after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
She said her dad came down to visit her not long after getting out of hospital.
Her dad, Arthur Gries, gave her $500 and her husband John tipped another $500, and they ended up buying the greyhound in the auction for $1200.
With the looming greyhound ban hanging over the industry, Joanne said along with her husband, they just decided to let Pick It up contest a few races and see what happened.
“She has never missed a place for me from me since I started her off,” Joanne said.
“I am over the moon. I couldn't be happier with her.”
Joanne said she named the dog Pick It Up, after her dad.
As a young boy, Gries would go to Paddy’s Markets with his father, to buy fruit and vegies to sell.
They would put the goods on the back of a horse-drawn cart, and when sometimes the goods would fall of, her dad would bounce around saying ‘pick it up, pick it up’.
“I sometimes think my dad is guiding her. I never got to tell him that he purchased half the dog for me,” she said.
“My dad was a greyhound man and loved the races. I always promised him that if I ever got a dog I would name it Pick It Up.”
As Richmond Race Club general manager Brad Adam put it, a win for Pick It Up would be life changing for the Zammits.
John has recently had his own battle with illness, while Joanne’s dad passed away last year, and their story is well known within Hawkesbury greyhound racing circles said Adam.
“I am sure there wouldn't be a dry eye in the house if Pick It Up won,” he said.
“To win a race like the Richmond Riches for the Zammits would be life changing and the club would be over the moon if locals could benefit from the series.”
Adam said there would be plenty of trackside entertainment, including jack russell racing in between the main races.
