James Leonard can remember playing footy out the back of Dawson Park as a kid and sneaking bets as a teenager while his grandfather Les sat at the fence and watched the races.
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And now congratulating the winner of the 2016 Lesley Ann Leonard Memorial Final less than two days after his grandfather’s passing is another memory from the track he will treasure.
“It means a lot to everybody in the family, they’ve been in the greyhound industry for about 30 or 40 years,” he said.
“I’ve been up here and grew up around the dogs myself. At the track here in Dubbo, playing footy out the back and having bets when we were 15 years old after being snuck in.”
Dubbo Greyhound Racing Club president Shayne Stiff paid tribute to Leonard when presenting Ann Barnes and Nangar Rock the silverware, saying he was a man who was always there to help out in any way.
Barnes also paid tribute to the Leonard family, saying they had all been family friends for a number of years.