Thousands have packed into Wentworth Park in central Sydney, where greyhound races have been held since 1932, for the last race meeting ahead of the track's planned demolition.
The final race of the night will be the richest in the world, with first place taking home $1 million.
For Geoff Rose, the closure is a sign of the times - the land in the inner-west suburb of Glebe is worth a fortune in a city whose growth will not slow down.
But the NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners and Trainers Association chair remains sad to see the park go.
"It is quite heartbreaking to a lot of people," he told AAP.
All buildings are slated for demolition after October 2027, and the site is planned to be returned to parkland under the auspices of City of Sydney Council.
Punter Bevan Disney, who comes from a family of bookmakers, also mourned the loss of the track.
"It's a money grab from the state," he told AAP while standing trackside on Friday night.
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.
Mr Rose said his association was also exploring another option, which could see it establishing race meetings at a site near Appin, southwest of Sydney.
Either way, Racing Minister David Harris has previously promised $10 million in government funding to help the industry find a new home - a move criticised by those calling for the industry to be shut down altogether.
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 industry veteran Ron Arnold, who got his first job at the park in 1975 with the now-defunct National Coursing Association, said with the loss of the track came the loss of an important piece of sporting history.
"Everybody knew where Wentworth Park was," Mr Arnold told AAP.
"Those major tracks have got a brand, like the Sydney Cricket Ground or the Melbourne Cricket Ground, they mean something even to people that don't follow the respective sports."
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