Remember Lee Scores Emotional Debut Win
It was an emotion-charged debut for Remember Lee on Tuesday at the Murray Bridge Straight track, with the June 21’ Magical Bale x Kisses For Chloe whelping scoring a debut win which meant far more than just the winners cheque.
Trained and owned by John Sargent in conjunction with his wife, Penny, the black dog’s win brought up emotions from an incredibly tough time in their lives, with Penny losing her son Lee to suicide in 2021. Remember Lee was named in Lee’s honour who is remembered as a fantastic person, caring and empathetic to others.
“He was very much to himself, he suffered from depression but as a person he would do anything for anyone. He was just a really nice guy, you wouldn’t have thought anything was wrong with him. I was actually at the races at Murray Bridge the night he passed away but we didn’t find out until the following day that he had passed.” said Penny.
“Two weeks after that, Salt And Pepper, who we raced, won which was very emotional. It was like she knew she had to win for us.”
The journey to Tuesday’s win started when Penny and John picked up a 3-month-old pup and his litter sister last year.
“We got him from Ray Fewings when he was 3 months old. Ray bred the litter. We also took another litter mate which we reared for Ray as well, so we had them both back here. We named him (Remember Lee) Cooper.
Penny picked Cooper out of a litter of 10 pups. "He was the one that stood out to me with his personality."
“We’ve had him from 3 months and he’s just a gentle giant, apart from the fact he barks a lot! To look at, he looks really big but he’s just so nice, he leans up against me and wants pats all the time. He’s a beautiful dog.”
“The time came to name him and we put in about 12 names which all got rejected, so we thought this is ridiculous, so John and I sat down one night and I said, ‘well I would like to do something for Lee’ and he came up with Remember Lee in memory of him.”
“When I rang up the naming people and asked what we got, they said ‘Remember Lee’ and I burst out crying. Now every time I hear him race it will be sad, but it will be mixed emotions, especially when he won Tuesday, because it was his first start and he hadn't even been in a field before, he had just been against one other dog.”
‘Cooper’ as he is known at home, was given the special name based on his incredible nature that he possesses.
“Because of his nature, I really felt like I needed to do something for Lee and I was hoping he would be a good dog and win some races. My daughter cried when she found out he won yesterday so it was a family thing.”
“I don’t know how to say it, he’s just so friendly. You will open the door to the kennel and he will just wait there, he doesn’t come running out or anything, he just waits until you put the lead on. He’s just so polite, an absolute gentleman.”
Penny and John were both at the straight track on Tuesday when he won, with the win being one of the more special ones that Penny and John have had together.
“It was funny because John boxed him and I was down the other end to catch him and when he ran I got a bit emotional, Kathy Johnstone said ‘don't forget to catch him!’”
“It was great, I gave him a big hug and everything, I had tears in my eyes.”
Penny was dealt another cruel blow last year when she was forced to close her business due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having the greyhounds in her care has been an absolute blessing that has helped her get through the difficult period and it just goes to show what an incredible breed they are.
“It’s taken my mind off what happened last year, we’ve got 14 dogs at the moment, 3 of them are pups. Of course, they take up plenty of time. All of our dogs are just so well behaved and they just know that we love them, they are gorgeous and we love them.”
Hopefully Remember Lee can build on the perfect start to his career and win many more.
If you or someone you know needs assistance:
Lifeline on 13 11 14 or https://www.lifeline.org.au/
Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 or at www.beyondblue.org.au