Hara's Esme enjoying the quiet life in retirement

By Jordan Gerrans

Hara’s Esme was a Townsville specialist in her racing days, but it is at Wynnum in Brisbane where she is loving her life in retirement.

The black bitch competed in her final race at the North Queensland venue in the second last month of 2025 before the decision was made for her to step away from racing.

As the Hara’s prefix suggests, the former chaser is from the Jemma Daley (trainer) and Tony Glover (breeder and owner) operation.

The kennel takes great pride in rehoming their chasers following their racing days and Hara’s Esme has most certainly landed on her feet with the Wilson clan at Wynnum in the southern suburbs of Brisbane.

Karen Wilson has welcomed the former racer into her home over the last few months and she has fitted in with the rest of the family seamlessly. 

“I think she settled in pretty quickly,” Wilson said.

“She's been quite inquisitive, she wanted to play with the plants a lot, just mostly picking the flowers.

“We do have dogs and cats nearby with our neighbour here and she met both of those and that was quite seamless.

“They just ignore each other now. I'm not sure if people know this about greyhounds but they hardly bark."

Wilson describes Hara’s Esme, who just goes by Esme in retirement, as a mixture of sweet and sassy.

“When I first started walking her, if we met people walking, she would come and stand behind me just to be in a comfortable space,” she detailed.

“She very much has adopted us and copies us.

“We were walking around the street when the kerbside collection was on and I spied something on someone's nature strip that I wanted so I bent down to pick it up.

“She looked at me and she's like, oh we're getting something here, are we?

“So, she bent down and picked up a little piece of plastic hose. She really has adopted our lifestyle.”

While originally from the Daley kennel at Park Ridge South in South East Queensland, Hara’s Esme did the majority of her racing for up-and-coming Townsville conditioner Hayley Wooler.

The daughter of Hara’s Betty won on debut in June of last year at Townsville before adding a second career victory in September.

She also placed on two more occasions from 18 career attempts before the decision was made for her to retire.

The Wilson family were searching for a pet for their household after previously having another greyhound.

Cyno Bird was the first former chaser they welcomed into their home, with the black and white bitch known as Marnie around their place.

Cyno Bird won once at the old Ipswich track from 10 career attempts before also retiring in the middle of 2016.

She was adopted through the Greyhound Adoption Program at Churchable.

After the Wilson family had such a positive experience with Marnie, they knew they wanted another greyhound after she sadly passed away, but they wanted to ensure the fit was right.

They headed down to the Capalaba track for a race meeting and quickly struck up a conversation with Daley.

At that time, they were not quite ready to take on a new dog, but they stayed in contact with Daley, who is a leading trainer in Queensland.

After speaking on several occasions, the family headed down to Daley’s kennel.

“We went down to meet Esme and some other dogs, all the family came down,” she recalls.

“Esme was the one who seemed most interested to come back to our place and join our family, that's how we decided on Esme.

“Esme seemed to be the one that was most interested in getting to know us, which included me as well as my son and my daughter.

“Esme seemed calm, interested, walked well on the lead and was interested in all of the family members and wanted to spend time with each of us.

“With this greyhound and with our other greyhound, we said to the kids the dog's choosing us, we are not us choosing the dog.

“She showed us that she was the one that wanted to come to our house.”

Esme has quickly adapted to life with the Wilson’s, playing with their basketball in the backyard while chasing the kids around on their scooters.

Karen and Esme often start their days with a nice walk around their local area.

“I would encourage anyone to adopt a greyhound,” she said.

April is National Greyhound Adoption Month and Racing Queensland will highlight a number of former race dogs thriving in retirement throughout the month.

Click here to meet greyhounds available for adoption and apply to adopt online.