Townsville star eases into perfect retirement

By Jordan Gerrans

Young Rob was a star on the track in Townsville during his racing days and in retirement, he is still being celebrated.

The black dog narrowly missed being crowned the prestigious Townsville Cup champion on a couple of occasions during his stellar career.

The classy chaser finished second in the 2023 edition of the feature North Queensland event which followed a fourth-place effort the year prior.

The son of Cosmic Chief won all his 20 career races around the Townsville Showgrounds circuit. He also placed 22 other times during his long career. 

Since his last start in January of 2025, Young Rob has eased into life after racing smoothly with Avalon Cairns at Kallangur in Brisbane’s north.

With her husband David, Cairns has welcomed Young Rob into her home alongside fellow former chaser Blue Bathers.

The dogs go by Sky (Blue Bathers) and Snickers (Young Rob) these days.

Sky has lived with David and Avalon since May of 2024 and when Snickers arrived around Christmas time of 2025, she helped him settle in.

“My first impressions were, what a beautiful boy,” Cairns said about Snickers.

“He was so curious and lacking maybe a little bit of confidence. Sky helped him come out of his shell and it was really, really beautiful to see.”

Snickers initially was welcomed into the Cairns’ house through the Queensland Greyhound Adoption Program’s Host a Hound foster program but after a short time, they knew he was there to stay.

When Cairns decided she was keen to take on another retired racer alongside Sky, she spoke to staff at GAP who helped match Snickers to Sky’s personality.

“Once we realised that they got along really well, we decided pretty quickly that we would keep Snickers,” Cairns said.

“He is a perfect angel and just matches her personality really well.

“We were ready to keep him with us.”

Blue Bathers also did plenty of racing in the north of the Sunshine State.

The blue bitch won on four occasions and placed nine more times at Rockhampton as well as competing at Bundaberg and Albion Park during her 34-start career.

GAP Queensland Rehoming Manager Lisa Kohler recently visited Sky and Snickers at their Kallangur residence and was pleased to see the two former racers living happily together.

“It's been really cool to see them,” Kohler said.

“The team at GAP work really hard to match and sometimes we don't get to see the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

“So, coming here to see Snickers and Sky and see how they're interacting, it really just reinforces the fact that what we do with trying to match dogs just really works out in the first instance.”

The GAP’s facility at Churchable prepares retired racers for their transition into their adopters’ homes.

“We match them to their family but also once they're retired, we like to take them out and about,” Kohler said.

“We take them to different places, we take them to Bunnings and we get them used to pet life.

“They're very used to kennel life and they're set up from there but transitioning them into pet life is a little bit different so we try and give them as many broad experiences as we can.

“With Sky and Snickers, you can see that they've transitioned into pet life really nicely.

“They're great companions and they've just taken on that new life so well.”

Cairns describes Snickers as having a ‘big’ personality and says he loves going down to the beach.

Cairns has long been a greyhound lover as her father Bill Hutchinson prepared a kennel of dogs back in the 1980s.

For the first five years of her life, she lived on a property with around 30 greyhounds.

“I always knew that I wanted to adopt greyhounds, they are the perfect pet,” she said.

“They're so versatile. We have a house, but I know that they do really well in apartment settings, as well.

“They don't have a lot of high maintenance. They like short walks and have short bursts of energy and then they mostly spend their day laying on the couch.

“It feels so good and it does feel really rewarding to give a dog like Snickers a home.

“Sky came from a place where she was being fostered, so she was already in a quite nice home environment.

“But, I knew with Snickers, getting him out of the kennel and getting him into pet life, that would be rewarding and it certainly was.

“They're so beautiful, they are just so gentle, patient and so special.”

Cairns encouraged anyone interested in adopting a greyhound to purse it.

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.