Bob Dixon will be honoured by Yarra Valley at its meeting on Monday.
Bob Dixon, one of Yarra Valley trots greatest personalities, will be honoured with a memorial race at Monday’s meeting.
Bob, who was an enormous part of the club for a long time, sadly passed in February. Bob’s wife, Maree, other family members and close friends will attend the race day.
Bob’s career as a trainer had several highlights including Diana Prince’s win late on a November night at Geelong. It may seem to have only been a maiden class race, but the great memories from that night live on with Bob’s family, in particular his daughters Kelly and Susan. Another highlight came from the 2005 Redwood Carnival when Bob trained Token George to success with close friend Vivian Tomren aboard.
To those who knew him, Bob was genuinely a larger than life character. He ran a food stall at Yarra Valley’s trials since the early '80s, serving hot dogs and egg and bacon sandwiches and handing out chocolate frogs to every kid in attendance from ages one to 100.
He had many race day roles in recent years, including being behind the numbers desk from where he would hand out numbers with a joke and smile to all that came, and somehow raid the steward’s room for a share of their lunch.
He was a strong community person who was involved at local football clubs throughout his life, on committees of various organisations and councils, even serving a stint as Mayor of Healesville.
He worked mainly as a refrigeration mechanic but had many other jobs, including delivering milk by horse and cart in the early years and, more recently, by vehicle to local bakeries and cafes – no one knows how many coffees he had of a morning, but knowing Bob it would have been one at every stop. He also spent many years teaching cooking classes to groups of children and adults with a disability.
A gathering of 350 attended a service for Bob at the racecourse, and he was sent off with one final lap of the track and for one last trip was first past the post. Bob will be sadly missed by his family, friends, the Yarra Glen community and Yarra Valley racing.
