RACING: Harding dogs on the move

Gary Harding
Prominent Hawke's Bay greyhound owner-breeder and racing enthusiast Gary Harding is close to kicking off his new operation in the north.
Harding, who prepares and trains greyhounds in Raymond Road, Te Awanga, took over ownership of the former Fayette Park thoroughbred stud farm near Tirau in July and has built a state-of-the-art greyhound complex there that is near completion.
He and his wife Linda plan to retain their Hawke's Bay property but will spend about six months of the year at their new Waikato base.
"It is not our intention to leave the Hawke's Bay completely and, hopefully, we can work between the two places," Harding said last night.
He still owns the Hastings-based company of Crown Construction Limited and has widespread interests in numerous other Hawke's Bay properties.
"I'll still have my business interests in Hawke's Bay and will remain closely involved with the area," he added.
Harding also has extensive thoroughbred interests and sees the purchase of Fayette Park as an ideal base to increase and upgrade his involvement in that area.
"We wanted to expand our thoroughbred interests and have found the right place to do it.
"We are looking at improving the quality of broodmares that we have and hopefully breed a lot more commercially," he said.
He still has five horses in work with Awapuni trainers Peter and Nikki Hurdle as well as another seven in varying stages of pre-training and several broodmares that he is still breeding from.
Harding says he has no preference between thoroughbreds and greyhounds despite the fact that he won 260 races last year with his greyhounds compared with very few successes with his horses on the racetracks.
"I enjoy them both and have met some great people in both codes," he said.
Three barns have been constructed at the Waikato property, each of which will accommodate about 30 greyhounds.
Contained in each barn are vetting facilities, an exercise area, whelping and emptying pens, all of which is under cover.
One barn will house dogs ready for breaking in and other buildings are being erected progressively.
Work is also almost complete on developing some of the all-important training tracks.
There will be four straight tracks, each of 450m long and a circular track will be installed later.
A number of 150-metre long runs will also be added.
Seventy paddocks have been fenced off to cater for litters after they have been weaned.
Harding has secured the full-time services of renowned greyhound vet Steve McGill, formerly based at Massey University.
"He will oversee the whole operation and is very highly qualified," Harding said.
"In fact we are very lucky to have got him."
A fully equipped veterinary room has been constructed, containing an extensive range of all the latest equipment, including scanning and x-ray facilities.
Adrienne Charters and Karen Walsh will train the bulk of the racing dogs on the property while Harding will also have others prepared by outside trainers and will prepare a few himself.
Harding had an exceptional strike-rate with the small band of dogs he prepared last season, his 20 starters recording 12 wins, six seconds, a third and a fourth.
Harding has his star greyhound McDeebee back in training after the four-year-old sustained a severe foot injury when winning a heat of the New Zealand Stayers' Cup at Addington in early July.
That was McDeebee's seventh win from as many starts in New Zealand after Harding purchased him from Australia.
"We've patched him up and brought him back slowly and he should be racing again in about a month's time," he said.
McDeebee caught the imagination of racing fans last season, winning the coveted Duke Of Edinburgh Silver Collar and breaking three track records in this country.
"When he got injured the phone never stopped ringing with people wanting to know how he was," Harding recalled.
Harding also owns Thrilling Sam, who is also rated among the best greyhounds in the country and who is back in training with Bill Hodgson at Palmerston North. He also holds several track records.
There are presently 10 full-time personal employed on the Hardings Waikato property with more expected to join the team as time goes on.
Harding has initiated the importation of frozen semen straws from many of Australia's leading sires. He has made these straws available to any New Zealand breeder at the same cost.
Harding is adamant that the greyhound ownership base must expand nationally and is prepared to assist in ensuring it does.
"Greyhound racing is a growing industry in this country and I want to do everything I can to help it succeed," Harding added.