David Wrigley is someone who's been made to wait for success.
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As a horse owner, it took him 19 years to finally get that breakthrough winner and as a long-serving and tireless and worker behind the scenes at Dubbo Harness Racing Club there hasn't always been a lot of recognition.
But that changed on Tuesday when Wrigley was awarded the Service to Sport award during Dubbo's Australia Day ceremony at Victoria Park.
"They don't come along as often as you'd like," Wrigley said of winners.
"But when they do come along it's very exciting."
Wrigley, who described himself as "a worker, not a talker" after receiving the honour, was keen to state it was special to be worthy of such an award while he also highlighted the support of his family, so many of which are also involved in the Dubbo Harness Racing Club.
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"It's definitely recognition and something I'll treasure for the rest of my life," he said.
"But without the family behind you you can't do these sort of things.
"I'm very proud. There's a lot of good workers and volunteer over the years and without them clubs can't run."
Wrigley has been involved with the Dubbo club for more than 30 years and has filled various roles in that time.
There's been two terms as president totalling nine years, a six-year stint as vice president and he continues to serve on the committee today.
He's also been the Dubbo club's delegate to the Western Districts Harness Racing Association for the past two decades and he is also a NSW club delegate.
Wrigley, his wife Patsy, and son Brett all put in a huge amount of work behind the scenes at the track.
There's been organising meetings and race day events, shifts in the canteen, and Wrigley has also stepped in as mobile driver, judge and betting supervisor when needed and also organised and attended Tuesday night trials at the track.
Those who know he and his family's vehicles often see them at the track early on race day and they're among the last to leave as well.
There's been plenty of challenges along the way.
In 2020, COVID-19 forced many meetings in Dubbo to be abandoned while others were run in front of smaller crowds.
There's also been a decline in the number of horses coming out of Dubbo in recent years but Wrigley, who said there's been a huge amount of positives as well, hopes to see the sport rise again.
"Dubbo has been missing out a little," he said.
"Bathurst has got a lot and they've gone to regional centres and Dubbo has fallen into the background a bit, which is a shame because at one stage we had a big stage we had a big trainer and owner base.
"That can affect things as they look at the quality of horses in the area and decide where they're going to put on meetings.
"We hope that it will get better and we've been treated very well with money but we'd love to get the prizemoney up so we could compete more and get others involved."