What happened on that date you ask?

Well, Wade Park changed forever.

Not because someone scored a match-winning try or hit a massive six.

No, it's because that date was the last ever night of greyhound racing in the city.

In the lead up to that night, Wade Park put on a show.

It was essentially a month of non-stop competition with every race named after a past or present local participiant.

Then momentum built towards the last hurrah.

Retired trainer John Fitzgerald was understandably dejected at the time. Fitzgerald had started his involvement with the sport since he was 10 and was 80-years-old when the last event was set to occur.

On November 26, he expressed his concern for the sport in the Central Western Daily.

"Dog racing is finished in Orange," he said.

"If we go to Bathurst we're looking at (120km) and the costs are going to kill it and the sport in Orange will die. It will deadset die."

Fortunately that predicition hasn't come to fruition.

Some of the industry's best breeders and trainers are littered around Orange and Cabonne with a number of dogs whelped in the area going on to race in Victoria and consistently at Wentworth Park.

On that superb Saturday evening at Wade Park, stormy conditions couldn't stop a huge crowd farewelling the sport.

Central Western Daily greyhound expert Greg Hore reported 300 to 350 crowd members with Greyhound Breeders Owners and Trainers Association opening up the gate for the night.

Spring Hill couple Jonathan and Margaret Brown were the happiest people present, coming away with a winning treble as Singin The Blues, Boys in Boots and Stolen Moments all won.

The real history-maker though was Bathurst 19-year-old Rebecca Maney.

Maney had her first ever winner as a trainer/owner in the final ever race, with My Pal Brock running across the line in first.

Throughout that night, our photographer Jude Keogh was there to capture all the action and she is still running across all the sporting fields today. So it begs the question. Will Jude be capturing the first ever event at a state of the art track in the Orange region? Only time will tell.

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