It’s not too often that Cap Abbott and his trusty offsider Kerry Hawker – based at Edenhope’s Cadillac Kennels – miss the twice-weekly race meeting schedule at Mount Gambier’s Tara Raceway. And that’s been the case for a number of years.
As the soon to turn 83 Abbott tells it, his association with greyhounds first came about in his early teens in Melbourne where on a daily basis he would exercise a few greyhounds for a trainer and be rewarded with a couple of pounds a week.
“And in my early 20s I became more involved with greyhounds when renting a property at Dandenong where I reared and trained a few while working as a panel beater. Actually, a dog called Grand Brigadier had given me a good start in the game,” he said.
But in September 1972 a litter by Gabriel Mist, a highly influential imported sire, out of Metal Joey, a daughter of Keen Metal and Russkar, would later present Abbott with his biggest success in greyhound racing.
“At four months of age one of the litter, a fawn bitch, was sold for $80 to Mary Knight in New Zealand where the pup was reared and subsequently raced as Kwik Metal. But later, Mary had been keen to send her back to Australia with a view to contesting the Melbourne Cup.
“As luck would have it, I was offered Kwik Metal to train when she returned. And in 1974 she reached the final of the Melbourne Cup at Sandown Park with Mary flying over to watch the race,” Abbott said.
A 7/2 chance in the final, Kwik Metal came with a great run down the back straight after being well back early. She subsequently dashed to the lead and won by two lengths from Miss Alliance with Flash Gordon a further 2¾ lengths back in third place.
Favourite in the race was Temlee who raced on 37 occasions for 25 wins and three minor placings. Upon retirement from the track he sired 735 litters. Later, Kwik Metal was mated with Temlee –Abbott training one of her pups in Neerim Belle, a Warragul Cup heat winner.
But later a house fire, which resulted at one stage in the family living in caravans, put paid to Abbott’s involvement in greyhound racing, temporarily at least.
“Relocation to Dingee, 50 kilometres north of Bendigo, then resulted in me milking cows for the next 20 years.”
It’s now been 22 years since Abbott shifted to a six acre property at Edenhope. Six years ago, Kerry Hawker, a former steward at Glenburnie greyhound meetings and later a greyhound owner, joined him at Edenhope.
“Kerry’s been a great help with the dogs since she’s been out here,” he said. “Cadillac Kennels now comprises 60 kennels, a greyhound education circuit and long runs. Actually, it’s a really good set-up.”
Abbott has featured in the Tara Raceway top 10 trainers since 2017. Then, in 2022, Hawker took out a trainer’s licence with the pair training a total of 61 winners.
The following year they combined to train 133 winners. In 2024 the tally was 94 and last year 71. So far this year they have a combined total of 30 winners at Tara Raceway.
In 2019, the Abbott trained Black Spring won the Mount Gambier Greyhound of the Year award with 74 points. He was successful again in 2021 with Another Pick who accumulated 72 points. And in 2023 the Hawker-trained Nero Valentino was the GOTY with 75 points.
The following year the Abbott-trained pair of Mister Cadillac and Top Cadillac shared the GOTY award with 57 points.
In more recent times he rates his best greyhound as White Arrow, the daughter of Tina’s Jo and Cape Arrow racing between 2009 and 2012. All told, she won 25 races at Mount Gambier,
Warrnambool, Angle Park, Horsham, Sandown Park and The Meadows.
Cadillac Racing also threw its support behind the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club in 2024 and 2025 when taking on a major sponsorship role.
These days, the Cadillac team mainly race their greyhounds at Tara Raceway’s Thursday time-graded meetings and Sunday Category 2 meetings. Mind you, Abbott is still not averse to putting in the odd hard yard or two.
“If another good one happens to come along then we’ll go anywhere to race,” he said.
