There’s no doubting Warrnambool-based Kevin Finn and his daughter Marita “Midge” Byron are going to be missed at Mount Gambier’s greyhound racing meetings. After all, nicer people you couldn’t hope to meet.

It was on Sunday, February 22 that Byron chauffeured her 82-year-old father and their greyhound Moonlight Jazz over to Tara Raceway for one final time. The final time, also, that their dog would receive a special treat of an ice cream on the way home – win, lose or draw.

And while Finn will most certainly miss his greyhound racing involvement he probably won’t miss his early morning walks which for the past 15 years had seen him rise on the dot at 4.30 to attend to his one greyhound.

“Generally, I used to walk for about an hour – the one dog by necessity given that I have only two kennels with the other one housing the lawn mower,” Finn said.

“I found I didn’t encounter too many distractions at that time of the morning. Although a few hours later I would go back to bed for a while, after which I was fine for the remainder of the day.”

All told, Finn had been involved in greyhound racing for more than 55 years. The initial interest had come about when living opposite the old Warrnambool track at Botanic Park where he later won a couple of races with Kevlor Boy.

He rates his best greyhound during that time as Miss Kouta, a daughter of Dashing Eagle and Artful who won 14 races at Horsham, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Geelong, Sandown Park and Bendigo for a syndicate of five mad Carlton supporters.

“Probably my best night ever at the dogs would have been back in April 1989 when I trained three winners at Horsham – Indian Raider, Our Shiralee and Garpete Park,” Finn said.

Besides spending the last 25 years of his working life at Nestle, as well as training a few greyhounds, he also spent 13 years, twice a week, on a voluntary basis at the Warrnambool trials.

And let’s not forget Finn’s wife of more than 60 years and Marita’s mother, Lorraine.

Back in 2023 at the Sandown Park Women in Racing night Lorraine received the Marg Thomas Award for the most outstanding female contribution to the sport of greyhound racing.

At the time Warrnambool Greyhound Racing Club manager, Craig Monigatti, had said Lorraine Finn was not only a special person to him but also the club.

“She’s so reliable and you just know that what she’s taking care of in our on-track shop is going to be organised and done. She doesn’t seek the limelight but on that particular night at Sandown Park it had been her turn to shine.”