" DITTO ".......A great breeder and rearer of dogs who was enormously hard to beat if he fancied one.....
Hope you put your hand up for another "tour of duty" Eric.....I know that both you and the dogs would appreciate it .....
Another big loss after a GREAT innings.

THE longevity of Eric Easton in greyhound racing is simply judged.
The fact Eric has raced four dogs called Dopey Doug, the first in the 1950s, the fourth in 2005, is testament to his love of greyhounds and the industry.
Those dogs have been:
Dopey Doug (Chief Havoc-Peg De Line)
Dopey Doug (Dashing Conqueror-True Favourite)
Dopey Doug (Dusty Rapid-Elron Lass)
Dopey Doug (Brett Lee-Terri Jason)
The original Dopey Doug was the first winner Eric trained. He had special memories of that dog and from that moment, whenever Eric thought he had a potential star, hed name him Dopey Doug.
In the past few months, the name Eric Easton has popped back into the winners circle through the deeds of promising galloper Zephyr Zing who recently made the final of the Dave Brett Memorial Maiden at Albion Park.
Eric had been quiet in greyhound racing which is something of a change for a man who has been one of the great stalwarts of the industry in this state from the 1950s.
Born in Auchenflower in Brisbane, Erics family went bush when he was very young. My family was originally from St George, said Eric.
Erics father Jack trained and rode his own horses winning lots of races out west in those days.
By the time Eric was 15 he had ventured back into Brisbane. He would work for many years at the Cannon Hill abattoir.
When I was 15, I was working at the Gabba, said Eric of his first venture into greyhound racing. Each day I would see trainers out walking their greyhounds. I got interested in them.
Eric would hop onto his push bike and ride out to Kedron to watch the greyhound races that in those days were run in the morning. Rocklea was later that day.
I thought about getting a pup and Id heard Neville Catchpole had some pups from Johnny Dory, but I missed out on getting one, he said. Nevilles son Neil Catchpole trains today.
Not to be denied, Eric headed out to Morningside and bought a bitch by Few Words. He named her Brazen Words which was probably the wrong name to give her.
She was a frightened little bitch and never got to the racetrack, said Eric. He would later breed with her and she would repay his faith by producing a number of good gallopers for Erics kennel.
It was at this time that he got Dopey Doug (Chief Havoc-Peg de Line).
Charlie Leyton, the horse trainer, had a brother in Armidale who had a dog called Dopey Doug, said Eric. The straight track had closed in Armidale and Dopey Doug couldnt handle the circle. They were looking for someone to take him on.
Dopey Doug ended up coming to Brisbane and Erics kennel. He would win 17 races. Eric raced him at the host of straight tracks that were open in those days at Beenleigh, Capalaba, Rocklea and Brassell.
Dopey Doug was the first winner Eric Easton trained. It was a memory to savor for Eric.
He would always wait until he found a pup he thought good enough to honour the name Dopey Doug.
He found one in the 1960s with a son of Dashing Conqueror-True Favourite. The second Dopey Doug won 15 races before he did a back muscle. His litter brother Clever Tom ended up being the better of the litter.
By the mid 1980s, Eric and wife Kay had found another Dopey Doug. This time he was by Dusty Rapid-Elron Lass. He won his maiden at the Gabba but became a top dog at the Gold Coast, said Eric.
Just as with the second Dopey Doug, this version was also outshone by his litter brother Dusty Jones who ran a track record at tweed Heads and won a host of Gabba races. He is one of the best dogs Eric and Kay Easton raced.
Elron Lass was from Joans Wonder who was a very well bred Black Top bitch, said Eric. Joans Wonder was not chasing when she was young and her owners gave her away to Billy Cronin who at the time lived near Archerfield aerodrome.
She produced Elron Lass who, for Kay and Eric, produced in 1987 to Little Blade a dog called Tarana Boy, the Golden Sands Classic winner and a Gold Coast Cup finalist who was one of the best sprinters of his time.
By 2003, Kay and Eric had found their fourth Dopey Doug, by Brett Lee-Teri Jason the dam a daughter of Awesome McLaren-Miss Jason that bitch being a sensational sprinter for the Easton kennel and from the famous Top Priority damline Harold Griffiths produced.
Dopey Doug (version 4) would make a Tweed Galaxy final for Eric and Kay.
There wont be another Dopey Doug, said Eric. Im too old these days to find one.
When Dopey Doug (version 1) came into Erics kennel, he was living at Ascot. He would catch a train from Ascot to Kedron to race the dog.
I remember weighing the dog regularly on the scales they had at the train station, said Eric.
Train travel too and from greyhound racing venues was common in the 1950s.
Eric remembers one trainer from Norman Park catching a train with his dogs to South Brisbane station, then another on to Southport to race.
He also remembers racing regularly at an owners and trainers straight track at Redland Bay Road. It lasted only six months but from memory it was the first racetrack of any of the codes to have a photo finish, said Eric.
Eric picked up training as he went along. I made a lot of mistakes and only had four or five in work, he said. At the start I would go racing by train, but then got an old ute, and as time went on I got a better ute.
In the 1950s he moved to a 12-acre property at Capalaba. He had his own straight track and a half circle track for education.
I started to breed dogs and got a few better dogs and then got some more, he said.
Eric says greyhound racing in those days was the best it has ever been.
Prizemoney at Capalaba was 10 or 12 quid to the winner and that was a weeks wages for racing at Capalaba, he said.
And there would be 14 to 16 bookies fielding there every race meeting.
If you got a weeks wages for winning at Capalaba today, youd be happy.
To give todays trainers an example of just how fearless some punters were in those days, and how strong bookmakers rings were, Eric relates a punt he had for Charlie Leyton.
Charlie gave me 500 pounds to back a dog at Beenleigh in 1951, said Eric. The dog was 4-1. I asked the bookie for 400 to 100 pounds about the dog.
Straight away, the bookie said to me how much have you got son. When I said 500 pounds, he bet me 2000 to 500. The dog won. It was 1951,
Eric remembers the day he bought a brand new panel van for $1950. Horse meat, and really good quality horse meat, was six pence a pound, he said. A bag of kibble was 10 shillings.
He says prizemoney today looks higher but is it really?
We are not getting the right share of the TAB money, he says.
Success came quickly for Eric and Kay Easton at Capalaba, but so did prosperity. They got rid of us dog blokes from Capalaba when they wanted to build a shopping centre, said Eric.
He and Kay moved to 10 acres at Ormeau and he has been there ever since.
He says broodbitch strength was behind the success of he and Kays training.
Brazen Words, right back as the first dog I bought, produced Rising Fury and she was a top little bitch, he said. Rising Fury threw a lot of winners.
Then Joans Wonder came along and she was the mainstay of ours. She produced a lot of winners.
Fiona Twist, a smart Gabba winner, was another.
Kay and Eric were married in the 1960s and had two children David and Kim. Kays father was successful in greyhounds, said Eric.
Kay became the face of the operation. All the dogs went into her name as trainer.
Eric dabbled with club representation in the early 1960s joining the committee at Loganholme and was president of the club when it was closed after the land on which it raced was sold.
Greyhound racing should have bought its own property right there and then, said Eric. Logan was a perfect opportunity for us.
He remembers like it was yesterday the halcyon days of the Gabba when crowds packed into the night racing venue and bookies would take on anyone who fancied a bet of greyhound racing.
I remember 5000 people turned up at Tweed Heads one Anzac Day, he said. In those days nothing opened in Queensland on Anzac Day so the only place to have a bet was in NSW. Thats why everyone went to Tweed.
Tarana Boy came along to give Kay and Eric some of their greatest thrills in greyhound racing.
A good dog, is how Eric modestly describes him. Tarana Boy was better than that. He was outstanding and at one time was almost unbeatable at the Gold Coast.
The Pringle kennel brought record breakers Bogenfel and Carnival Boy north to take him on in the Golden Sands Classic but were left in his wake.
Greyhound racing took a sudden halt in Erics life 11 years ago.
I was diagnosed with leukemia, he said. I suppose I panicked a bit and we got rid of all the dogs. We had a couple going really well at the time including a dog called Prince Eagle.
Allan Chauncey bought him and he turned out to be a pretty good dog.
Normal treatment did not stem the leukemia for Eric. In 2001 I started a new treatment. It was September 11 and I remember it so well because when I walked into the hospital, all the nurses were talking about some planes crashing into the Twin Towers in New York.
The new treatment worked and Eric has been in remission since.
Kay, unfortunately, died five years ago.
Kays brother Eric still lives at the Oremau property.
A couple of years ago, Erics long-time mate Gary Constable talked him into heading to Billy Northfields property to have a look at a litter of Knocka Norris-Proper Jessica pups. Gary bought two, Eric reared them and Zephyr Zing, the Brett Memorial Maiden finalist, is one.
Eric has lived and loved greyhound racing all his life.
He pines for the days of old.
He says Dashing Conqueror is one of the best he has seen. Where would you find a faster dog up the straight?, he said.
And without drawing breath, Eric mentioned Jack Stephens bringing Arn Finn to Capalaba at 16 months to win his maiden and two months later coming back to win the Kedron Thousand against the best dogs around.
A rocket, is how Eric described Arn Finn.
He remembers with fondness the many great Queensland Cup carnivals at Beenleigh. Guys like Stan Cleverley, Vince Whittaker, Les Brett, they would all bring up their best dogs for those carnivals, he said. Stan brought Rocket Jet here to win the Kedron Thousand. A beautiful dog. Top Linen couldnt give him start and beat him.
Les Brett brought up Susies Dream for the Cup at Beenleigh. She was something.
Susies Dream is the ancestress of Velocette and broodbitch legend Alice Dooley.
The 10 acres Eric lives on at Ormeau was the subject of many offers from developers some years ago.
There is no market for it at the moment, said Eric. Maybe in a few years. It might do the kids some good.
Of todays racing, Eric says it could be good if we the industry had a horseshoe track. Albion Park suits some dogs but many are never happy with it, he said.
He points to the improvements in vet science that keeps greyhounds racing longer and more often. I wouldnt be here if it wasnt for modern science, he said.
Eric reckons the fastest dog he has trained was Native Spirit (Happy Spirit-My Interest). He could beat Gay Occa when he was 16 months old and still a maiden and Gay Occa at the time was giving away seven yards in the top grade races.
He won only a few races before dropping a back muscle. He was the fastest. Bunny Hewton had the mother, but Doc Castles owned her. Doc gave her to someone to breed with, but by the time we found out how good Native Spirit was, the bloke had put My Interest down.
He says he regrets not heading down to Beenleigh when Harry Pledger brought Chief Havoc to Queensland to go on parade. Rain washed out the race meeting, but Harry opened up a hotel room in Beenleigh and hundreds of people came along to simply look at the legend.
Eric says Tarana Boy and Dusty Jones were his best dogs.
He is staggered by the prices of stud dog fees and the price of pups. Ten quid was the usual price of a service fee and the pups usually sold for the same price as the service fee. It was unusual for a stud dog to be 50 quid.
Eric says his training methods have not changed much from the day he started back in the 1950s with Dopey Doug (version 1). He proved them just as successful when Zephyr Zing began brilliantly and led all the way to win a heat of the Dave Brett Memorial at Albion Park recently.
The maestro was back.

TRAINERS today talk about how tough dogs were.
Eric Easton vividly remembers a bitch called Miss Romac.
In the 1950s, racing was conducted in the morning at Kedron and later that day at Rocklea.
Miss Romac would regularly compete at both race meetings, sometimes racing six times in the day.
The hurdle was always the first race of the day at Kedron and Rocklea, said Eric. Miss Romac would always be in the hurdle at both Kedron and Rocklea.
Then she would be in the heat of a handicap race, and if she made the final, in that later in the morning at Kedron. She would then be taken over to Rocklea and run in the hurdle and then in the heats of a handicap race over there.
Eric remembers Miss Romac going to stud and producing Janets Model who was a fine broodbitch. Right up to the mid-1970s this line was still producing. Wentworth Park Gold Cup winner Dainty Wanda has Miss Romac as her sixth dam.

In the very early 1970s, Eric raced a dog called Castle Jet (Nevene Jet-Castle Clare). The dogs biggest claim to fame was that he weighed 97lgs (44kgs).
But he was a litter brother to a dog called Mr Prizz which was raced by Gordon Woods. Gordons son Jasen races the current day Mr Prizz (Go Forever-Dynamic Princess), picked out as a pup by his now late father. Todays Mr Prizz won the Rockhampton Cup in track record time.
Jack Dykstra also had a bitch called Tiny Leisa from the same Nevene Jet-Castle Clare litter, said Eric. Now she was a top class bitch.
Tiny Leisa was a finalist in a National Futurity at Wentworth Park.

Eric remembers the carefree days of racing in the 1950s. Don Neave would walk flat out to the start of any race he had a dog in, said Eric. He would box the dog and then race off down the track to the finish so he could watch his dog in the race.
It was all allowed in those days.

Eric remembers the McCoombes had a really good bitch called Ipswich Queen. She was always giving away eight yards start on the straight at Beenleigh, said Eric. The trouble was, the track was so tight, that she had to run for those first eight yards in only enough room for a starting box.