Jeff Collerson first set foot on the greyhound race track at Wentworth Park in December 1962, as a 17-year-old cadet journalist.
Now, aged 81, the veteran greyhound writer was trackside as the dogs raced around the circuit, nestled against the Sydney city skyline, for the final time.
The race track at Wentworth Park in the inner-city suburb of Glebe, which has been hosting greyhound races since 1932, is set to be razed to the ground to make way for sporting facilities and green space.
Thousands packed out the stands for the final race meeting at the much-loved track on Friday night.
Racing was not something Mr Collerson sought out, but something that was "foisted" onto him when the former greyhound writer moved on to rugby league.
"None of the married guys wanted to work Saturday nights, so they told me I had to be the greyhound writer," he told AAP.
"It's one of the best things that ever happened to me."
Racing became a huge part of Mr Collerson's life, going on to write about the sport for 50 years and meeting his wife, Catherine, through the owner of one of the greyhounds that raced at Wentworth Park.
He said the closure of what locals refer to affectionately at "Wenty" was tragic.
"I remember saying to my wife years ago, I want you to cast my ashes in front of the winning post at Wentworth Park, but I told her not to do that now," Mr Collerson said.
"Wentworth Park's got a special aura about it that the other tracks won't have ... it's got a special buzz to it.
"That will be lost forever because having a city track is just fantastic."
Wentworth Park was heaped into life between 1876 and 1880 using silt dredged from Sydney's Harbour.
Greyhound racing began in the park in 1932 and by the 1970s, the sport was attracting large crowds.
Greyhound Racing NSW, the state's regulator for the sport, announced this week it had chosen the existing Richmond Race Club - around an hour northwest of central Sydney - as the replacement site for the industry.
It also announced plans to build a brand new racing facility on the site.
Prominent greyhound trainer Minnie Finn represented four of the runners in the night's final race; Pound Keeping, Hey Arnold, Shaq Keeping and Winsome Jet.
Ms Finn grew up with greyhounds in her backyard and has been going to race meetings at Wentworth Park since birth.
"I was keen on the dogs ever since I could walk," she told AAP.
She said Wenty was "the pinnacle of racing".
"You even see people, now that it's closing … who wanted to keep racing there just so they could say they won a race at Wentworth Park."
Some, however, have welcomed the track's closure as a move towards the whole industry's end.
A crowd of protesters stood outside the park as punters filed in, chanting that the sport kills dogs, and calling for an end to taxpayer dollars propping up the industry.
But the industry has changed a lot over the decades, and Friday's meeting also attracted the next generation of fans.
Aleisha Kernan and Kirsten Lambros work for Greyhounds as Pets, which help facilitate the adoption of retired racing dogs.
Ms Kernan said the sport's potential new facilities would "open new avenues".
"I think people should look at the future as well," she told AAP.
But for young punter Harry Dunlop, nothing would replace what he described as a "prominent piece of Australia".
"It's very unlikely that we'll be going out to Richmond," he told AAP.