Border Park will host its last race greyhounds meeting today after 47 years in operation

A GREYHOUND racing institution has reached the end of its run with the final meeting at Border Park today.

Duranbah trainer Trevor Wilson will have Smooth Jake running in race six today at Border Park’s last meeting before the track’s closure. Picture: DAVID CLARK

A GREYHOUND racing institution has reached the end of its run with the final meeting at Border Park today.

And in a touching gesture, the founding fathers of the Tweed Heads track will be honoured.

Harry Pledger and Norm Ahrens established Border Park racing complex 47 years ago. Three generations of the Pledger and Ahrens family will today be at the facility, which will close down after one final 10-race program in front of an expected 700 punters and racing identities.

The facility was sold off when the NSW Government announced a ban on greyhound racing, before backflipping last month.

Secretary-manager Stephen McGrath said it would be a mix of emotions watching the final races while looking ahead to the development of a new facility down the track.

“It will be a sentimental day, there is no doubt,” McGrath said.

“It will be an emotional day for all – the board members and the people who have frequented Border Park over the last 47 years.

“For me it will be a double-edged sword because I look forward to the development of a new racetrack to replace this one.”

The location of the new complex is yet to be decided as the club waits for the NSW Government to officially lift the ban in Parliament.

“Before we put all our money into a basket we need to make sure we are going to be allowed to race in the state that we put our money in,” McGrath said.

The final two events of the day will be the Norm Ahrens Appreciation and Harry Pledger Appreciation races, with $10,000 in prizemoney to each of the winners. Pledger, regarded as the King of Border Park and a huge figure in racing, and Ahrens, who put a second mortgage on his house to help complete the project, did the groundwork that resulted in the freehold purchase of the land from the NSW Government.

Pledger’s stature in the racing industry was second to none – he was the first person inducted into the Queensland Greyhound Hall of Fame in 2007.

In 1969 the harness racing circuit was built and the greyhound track, along with the famous Border Park Galaxy classic, came two years later. McGrath said the foundation those two men laid was the reason why the club had the financial stability to find and purchase a new complex.

“It is extremely positive from a club point of view that Harry and Norm had the foresight 47 years ago to buy this block of land,” McGrath said.

“They have left this club in a position where it is so asset rich it would be one of the rare clubs in Australia that can afford to build its own facility without any government handout.”