Paradise Street was the outstanding 20th century stayer in WA greyhound racing – and probably the most travelled. Prepared in Perth by champion trainer Linda Britton, the dog often raced in Victoria for Linda’s brother Allan, due to the lack of distance races in WA at the time and made at least a dozen plane flights back and forth.
It was worth it though, with Paradise Street winning a whopping43 times, including 14 races of 700 metres on end at the old Cannington course. In one of these he ran a track record 41.19, a time which will stand now in perpetuity.
Paradise Street was by Warren’s Flyer out of former topliner, Miss Crisp, the grand-dam of the brilliant Reggemite, Paradise Street’s kennelmate.
Starting his career in Victoria in 1996, Paradise Street was a handy sprinter, winning on several occasions before heading west to Linda Britton in January 1997. Linda experimented with upping the dog’s race distances and, at his third start in WA, Paradise Street won at Cannington in 42.19 and then a week later, in 41.52. Sensing she had found a key to the greyhound, Linda sent Paradise Street back across the Nullarbor to brother Allan.
However, after only two wins in nine starts, in July 1997 Paradise Street returned to Perth. There, he took just two races to return to the winners’ circle and piled on four in a row, lowering his best time now to 41.43 and scorching to the first of three victories in the Group 1 WA Distance Championship.
Early in 1998, Paradise Street was placed twice more at Group level in Melbourne and then in April dashed to glory in a heat and the final of the Group 3 Distance Gift at Cannington. In the heat win, Paradise Street ran the permanent track record of 41.19, scoring by a widening nine lengths.
Back in Vic soon after, Paradise Street procured a heat of the rich Sandown Cup, then flew west to snare his second WA Distance Championship. This was only the appetiser, however, for he subsequently inflicted a sensational defeat of Victorian stars Cape Drina and Shar Den in the Group 1 National Distance Final at Cannington, in September of 1998.
He was the West’s inaugural winner of the big event. Placed twice more at Group level in Victoria in his next trip east, Paradise Street won an additional five distance races in succession back in Perth to end his year, incorporating the Group 1 Galaxy at Cannington and extending his winning WA staying race sequence to 12. Following another winning interstate visit, Paradise Street took his WA streak to 14 before nudged out in a photo in the WA Distance Gift final in the autumn of 1999.
That June he won his third WA Distance Championship, before running second in the NSW National Final at Wentworth Park in September 1999.
Now five-and-a-half-years-old that was to be Paradise Street’s last start in a race because, though Linda Britton felt he could have gone on, she decided the brave veteran had done enough.In 119 starts, Paradise Street had recorded 43 wins and 41 placings; won 25 of 37 distance races in WA and been unplaced just once.
The amazing chaser had scooped up five Group 1 races, including the 1998 National Distance Championship, the Galaxy the same year and three successive State Distance Championships.
He was also runner-up in a second National Distance Championship and won two WA Distance Gifts at Group 3 level as well as finishing second in a third.
Paradise Street, an iconic champion indeed, and now given due tribute in the WA Racing industry’s Hall of Fame.
Career Record 119 starts: 43 wins & 41 placings
WA Distance Record 37 starts; 25 wins, 8 seconds, 3 thirds & only 1 unplaced
Career Stakes Over $164,000 WA Feature Events Wins 1998 Group 1 National Distance Champion (WA’s first) 1999 Group 1 National Distance Runner-up (Wentworth Park) WA Distance Championship (1997, 1998 & 1999) Group 3 Distance Gift (1997 & 1998) 1998 Group 1 Galaxy
Runner-up: 1999 Group 3 Distance Gift Interstate Feature Event Finalist 1996 Group 2 Maturity Stakes (Olympic Park) 1997 Group 1 Carlton & United Cup (Sandown Park) 1997 Group 3 Gold Cup (Wentworth Park) 1998 Group 1 Sandown Cup (Sandown Park) 1998 Group 3 Dandenong Dry Cleaners (Sandown Park) – 3rd 1998 Group 3 Maidment Memorial (Sandown Park) – 2nd 1998 Group 3 All Stars Invitation (Wentworth Park) 1998 Group 3 Sir John Dillon Memorial (Sandown Park) 1998 Group 3 Bookmaker’s Trophy (Wentworth Park) – 3rd 1998 Listed Epping Anniversary Plate (Wentworth Park) 1999 Group 2 Association Cup (Wentworth Park) 1999 Group 3 Maidment Memorial (Sandown Park)
Track Records 700m (Old Cannington, pre-transition turns) – 41.19secs Had the 1st, =7th, =12th, =14th, 16th & 18th best ever times over 700m at Cannington Had the 7th best ever time over 638m at Cannington