Each portrait was created by photographer Toby Dixon, inside a small location studio, set up outside the dog kennels just moments after each race to capture the raw emotions of the trainers, owners, punters and dogs.

It took around six months of persistent emails and phone conversations to be granted permission to get access to the venue. Being a gambling facility, regulations around non-officials is very tight but Dixon persisted and finally got through to the right people.

The title ‘The Lure’ , refers directly to the apparatus that’s propelled around the circuit to make the dogs sprint from their boxes but has a second meaning of being what drives us all as living beings, canine or human; money, pride, fear, prestige are but a few of these ‘lures’, our driving forces.

During the shooting phase Dixon met a number of amazing characters and conversations that will stick in his mind forever.

"Their stories are truly fascinating. One family travelled from rural Queensland to make a race, only to lose, get back in the car and head straight home. Most trainers were wither born into it or started at a very young age," says Dixon.

"One guy I met allowed me to come to the dog-breeding farm he grew up on and so I decided to shoot a short film as the invitation to the exhibition. One bloke was given a dog as a wedding present and decided to ‘have a crack’. That was 40 odd years ago. The list goes on."

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