Greyhound racing: Peter Heterick enjoying life as a trainer

Photo caption: Pictured: Peter Heterick and Zoe Star. Photo provided by the Auckland Greyhound Racing Club.

When you see Peter Heterick at the racetrack, he always has a smile on his face. And why not? He loves being a greyhound trainer.

"It's great. There's no other feeling. The greyhounds are beautiful animals, and every morning, you go out there and they give you a cuddle. I just love it," he enthuses.

It wasn't always about the dogs for Heterick, though. Growing up, he was surrounded by horses.

"I was practically born on the back of a horse," he laughs. "When I was three or four, I was feeding gallopers."

He was born and bred in Rockhampton in Queensland, while his father and grandfather both hailed from Penrith, not far from Sydney.

"Grandad went over to Singapore to ride horses and he won a Singapore Gold Cup. After he came back to Australia, the family moved up to Brisbane."

Heterick's father was a jockey too, before he turned his hand to training thoroughbreds.

"I started riding, but I was no good at it," he remembers with a chuckle. "Dad said, 'I think you've just got to stick on the ground with me, son!'

"So, I helped him train and I got my trainer's licence when I was 18, then trained my first winner about six weeks later. I had three horses in work and it went from there."

After his father was diagnosed with cancer, Heterick gave up training to look after him. He worked in the mines, and met his partner, expat Kiwi, Tanya. The couple had a daughter, who they named Zoe.

"During that time, I was still going to the greyhounds at Rockhampton on a Thursday night. Then, we moved to Brisbane – and kept going to the greyhounds there – and I ended up becoming a stable foreman for Tony Gollan, who had over 100 horses.

"Tanya was homesick, so made the decision to move back to New Zealand. I was flying back and forth between the two countries to see Tanya and Zoe.

"One day, back in 2017, when I was still living in Brisbane, I asked Zoe what she wanted for Christmas – and she told me she wanted me to move to New Zealand. My father had just passed away, so I moved over."

Heterick soon began working for leading thoroughbred trainer, Nigel Tiley, and fourteen months later, he got a job at Woodlands Stud. Soon, however, he was well and truly bitten by the greyhound bug, after enjoying Sunday afternoons socialising at Manukau Stadium.

"I went, 'you know what, we'll get a dog!'"

With the advice of Ross and Lynne Udy, Heterick and his family purchased their first racedog, Smash Burton, and they then bought a puppy, who they called Zoe Star.

Named after his daughter, Zoe Star provided Heterick with his first winner as an owner/trainer on 5 December 2021. And then, she provided the family with a huge thrill when she won the $7,500 Royal Commission Sprint on Silver Collar Day in June.

"We paid $1,500 for her and she's a superstar in our eyes," says Heterick. "She's beautifully natured and gentle – she's just so lovely.

"If I could do things over again, I would have gotten into greyhound racing earlier. I love the dogs. And when you look after these beautiful animals all day and then they come to the races and they win a race, there's no other feeling. It's a real buzz.

"It's a family affair for us. Everyone helps out and we all love it."