Queensland Training Great John Reimer Passes

QUEENSLAND greyhound Hall of Famer, John Reimer, has died.

He was 88 and had been battling ill health since 2008.

“J.R.” had been a professional greyhound trainer since the mid 1960s and trained some of the greatest greyhounds seen in his home state, the likes of Miss Perlita and Winged Runner to name just two.

By the opening of night greyhound racing at the Gabba in 1972, John Reimer had already established a strong kennel. On opening night, Reimer had three runners and won two races, with Time And Tide and Nijinsky.

Dion Danalis, soon to become the then Control Board chairman, brought a team of dogs to Queensland with him and enlisted Reimer as his trainer. One was Garron Court which would be Reimer's first superstar.

Greats like Black Stout and her daughter Half Stout came along and Reimer took them to the top.

Then along came Blue Perlita and her famous daughter Miss Perlita.

The neat, racy black bitch John and his wife Jill gave to their daughter Joanne was named Miss Perlita. She became the 1980 Qld greyhound of the year. She won 38 of her 99 starts, 23 wins coming at the Gabba for $52,000 in stakes.

Miss Perlita was speed personified. She won the Tweed Galaxy, Lawnton Cup, Johnnie Walker Series and made numerous big race finals. She set track records over 370m and 484m at Lawnton, 420m at the Gabba and a 420m record at Tweed that lasted only a few races.

Miss Perlita produced star Rinkeno.

Other Gabba greats for Reimer were Jason's Trace and Blue Find.

When the Gabba closed in 1992, John Reimer's bitch Tokyo De Ville was one of the 10 final night winners. The following week, on the opening night of racing at Albion Park, Tokyo De Ville won the first race.

Great Raider, Lachlan Georgia, Sheza Good Sort all kept J.R. in top notch competition, and then along came Winged Runner Queensland greyhound of the year in 2000 after winning the Group 1 Nutrience Cup, and the Qld Futurity. She was also third in a Topgun.

Despite having so many of his own champions, Reimer plumped for Top Simbi as the best dog he saw. "I saw Zoom Top race and what a beautiful bitch she was," he said some years ago. "But Top Simbi is the best I've ever seen.

"No one would have done a better job of training Top Simbi that Bert Kennedy," said John at that time. "I went down almost every week to put the ultrasound machine on Top Simbi for Bert. I did it for the couple of years he was racing.

"And I was racing against him just about every week. If you stopped machining him, Top Simbi would growl at you. He had to get done while he was on the couch watching TV."

John Reimer is a legend of greyhound racing in Queensland, and Australia.

He leaves behind a legacy of training still enjoyed by his family.

John Reimer was born on April 20, 1936 and amazingly, so was two other greats of Queensland and Northern Rivers greyhound racing, the late Billy Northfield and Brian Kutner.