Greyhound racing fraternity shaken by the death of master trainer Ray Adcock

Ray Adcock deservedly received the greyhound code's ultimate recognition when he became the inaugural human inductee into the New Zealand Greyhound Hall of Fame in 2010. Photo / Supplied

The greyhound code nationwide was shaken to the core last Friday with news filtering through about the sad passing of the legendary trainer Raymond Adcock, aged 87 years.

Ray Adcock redefined the art of greyhound training over four decades of successfully mentoring a huge number of outstanding greyhounds.

He completely dominated the national trainers' premiership during the 1980s and into the 1990s, and constantly maintained high winning seasonal strike rates since then.

He was a prolific traveller with his greyhounds, to all parts of the country. Included was his regular plundering of Hatrick feature races.

Ray deservedly received the greyhound code's ultimate recognition when he became the inaugural human inductee into the New Zealand Greyhound Hall of Fame in 2010.

One of Rays' best attributes was his complete willingness to share his vast greyhound knowledge with other industry participants.

Ray was a humble, modest man, and was also well known for his sense of humour and trademark witty one-liners.

An example of that came when questioned about his logic of fitness-building -with the freewheel galloping of his greyhounds in the paddock instead of the traditional walking methods. He immediately responded with, "If there are walking races, I would walk them!"

Thoroughly deserved tributes have been flowing freely for Adcock, who was rightly glowingly referred to as the doyen and the master greyhound trainer of New Zealand.

Meanwhile, effectively using the one-trap saw, the talented Big Time Kaylee led all the way when she dashed to her 30.06s 520m open-class win at Hatrick Raceway last Friday.

This evening she moves out to trap-six for her 520m assignment (race 9) from where she must adopt those same pace-making tactics. The Lisa Cole-prepared Group 1 titleholder is likely to be aided by the adjacent trap-five being vacant.

As usual, kennelmate Jilliby Litsa produced her standard consistent effort when she chased home Big Time Kaylee, one length behind her.

She may as well have the pink racing vest painted onto her, as she draws the eight-trap for the fourth occasion from her last five 520m races here.

Big Time Lantao kicked on stoutly for her 6.25 length third last week. Her claims in this event have been greatly enhanced by being allocated the coveted one-trap to exit from.

Adding to a competitive field here is the presence of the promising Big Time Panda, who also clocked 30.06s when she led throughout for her 30.06s C4 520m victory. She must use her known early pace from trap-seven.

The intrigue factor in the field is provided by the presence of the Waikato, AJ Christiansen-trained Uno Me Now. She travels south after delivering competitive recent Cambridge races. She's a proven chaser at Hatrick as seen by her best 29.99s winning 520m time.

You can't keep a good fella on the sideline for long! That's the case with the resilient sprinter Trojan Hoarse, who makes his return to racing after a month off.

He has been treated kindly by the box-draw, being provided with the one-trap to hop away from in the open class 305m sprint (race 5).

Cole has prepared the winner of $259,957 to win 69 races. As usual he commands the utmost respect in this dash.

Also resuming from a spell is the slippery sprinter Big Time Jonie. He hasn't raced since May, however recent trials will have this owner of the field-best 17.27s 305m clock ready to deliver a bold fresh-up sprint from the two-trap.

Kennelmate Allegro Smooch can swoop from trap-eight, while the John MacArthur trained Spook, along with De Minaur for Jake and Daze Bell can be considered podium contenders.