A year ago today – June 7 2015 – the North East lost one of its most popular racegoers with the death of Wilf Husband. A week today, Newcastle will run the heats of a £5,000 event staged in his honour. One of the organisers is Neil Conlon, best known for his powerful string with Jimmy Wright including Droopys Buick and Droopys Trapeze.
Neil said: “There are a few of use involved, including the Pinpoint boys and Savva Roberts though the whole thing has been put together by Ian Walton (Newcastle GM).”
The SKY televised 480m Wilf Husband Memorial Final follows on Tuesday June 21, and will be supported by the £1,500 one-off Deluxe Flooring Puppy Standard plus a series of £500 races over a variety of distances including a maiden. It would have been exactly the sort of meeting that Wilf would have enjoyed.
“He certainly would” said Neil. “Wilf was a local haulage contractor and he loved nothing more than a night at the dogs. He had shares in a few, I think mainly with the Calverts. He was quite a low profile sort of man but was widely liked by everyone.”
So will Team Conlon be supporting the night?
“Certainly” said Neil. “I would like to think that Buick would go into the event with a decent chance but there have been a lot of decent dogs trial for it. I would also hope to have Trapeze in the puppy race, along with Droopys Country, who we think could make into a very good greyhound. ‘Alessio’ will probably also be involved, though Droopys Vodka is not at is best at the moment and we’ll probably skip this one.”
Closing date for the Wilf Husband Memorial is this Friday June 10 at noon.
Co-owners Kathleen Conlon and husband Neil (right) with last year’s William Hill Puppy Plate winner Droopys Buick who will be entered for the Wilf Husband Memorial pic Steve Nash
