Sad Passing Of Legend Trainer Richard Dean

RICHARD Dean, one of Australia's greatest trainers of the past 50 years, died yesterday, aged 81.

His son Dennis said: “Dad had not enjoyed good health for the past eight years but caught covid a couple of months ago and that really set him back.

“I came up from my home in Victoria to be with him just before he passed away.”

Richard Dean was best known as the trainer of National Lass, one of the sport's all-time greats.

National Lass earned the NSW Greyhound of the Year award in 1984 and again in 1985 and won 40 of her 63 starts, including 28 from 34 long-distance races.

She won six of the 12 major (group) races she contested and was renowned for her remarkable consistency.

At one stage National Lass won 14 races in succession and twice won eight in a row at Wentworth Park while also stringing together 10 consecutive wins at Richmond.

Her owner Richard Zammit said: “Richard Dean and his late wife Lesley were peerless trainers.

“Richard Dean was among the first trainers able to make a good living purely from prizemoney, back in the days when races, especially group events, were worth nothing like they are today.”

While National Lass was Richard Dean's stand-out performer, she was just one of numerous top notchers he trained.

He won the 1991 Paws Of Thunder (then St. Leger) and 1992 National Derby with Little Denver, the 1996 Melbourne Cup with Henry Hand, 1999 National Sprint Championship with Harry Hand, 1997 Richmond Derby with National Leader and a Dapto Derby with Railroad Wish.

Other top performers Richard Dean trained were Pancho Too, Waverly Doll, Sargent Major, Tommy Hand, Denver, Magic Hand and Sweet Hand, while he was the original owner-trainer of the crack sprinter Pancho Country.

When he needed to put a new roof on his house, Richard Dean sold Pancho Country to a client of fellow trainer Sam Cauchi and the dog went on to become one of Australia's best greyhounds.

Richard Dean was a floor and roof tiler until the age of 30 when he swapped a box trailer for a three-year-old greyhound bitch called Sendiri.

She was no world beater but became a great brood bitch and produced an endless stream of city winners for the Dean family.

Richard Dean is survived by his second wife, Patricia, a successful trainer in her own right who won the 1977 National Futurity with Little Fresh, his sons Dennis and Barry and step-daughter Jacqueline Davis.

GRNSW and the Greyhound Recorder wishes to extend its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Richard Dean, a true greyhound racing legend.