In 2023 it was Daniel Gibbons of Avalon who trained Titan Blazer, the winner of the Group 3 Mount Gambier Cup over Lochinvar Cahill and Sister Roberta in a time of 29.36 seconds for the 512 metre journey.

This year, after reaching the Group 2 Horsham Cup final (485 m) with Paw Winder, Gibbons’ wife Bec had the Brendan Wheeler owned son of Orson Allen and Yahiro Bale engaged in Mount Gambier’s Federal Hotel Anniversary Cup (512 m) over the past two Sundays.

And the blue brindle dog, after scoring an emphatic 4¾ length win over Nola Keeping in the third of five heats in a best of day time of 29.54 seconds, was always going to be hard to beat in last Sunday’s $25,000 final – despite drawing box six.

As it turned out, Paw Winder didn’t exactly fly the boxes in the final but down the back straight he was always going to be hard to beat after settling in second spot behind Utter Madness.

Then, turning for home, he railed through to take the lead before eventually running out a 1½ length winner over Utter Madness with a further two lengths back to Nola Keeping in third place. The minor placegetters are trained at Lewiston by Nicole Price.

Paw Winder’s time of 29.32 seconds was the fastest Anniversary Cup winning time since 2022 when Giant’s Flash had recorded 29.19 seconds.

Handling Titan Blazer three years ago for the Gibbons’ team had been Mark Johnson who was back again for the Anniversary Cup heats and final with Paw Winder.

In between though, he had gone out on his own for a while and had actually trained his own Mount Gambier Anniversary Cup winner in 2024 in the form of Fireworks who defeated Lektra Tony in a time of 30.09 seconds.

First run in 1985 at Glenburnie, the Anniversary Cup was won by the Hazel Lane trained Kenzel Lad. In 1997 racing transferred to its current venue on Lake Terrace East where the Col Sims trained Becker McLaren was the first of his four cup winners.

Complementing the Anniversary Cup since 2005 has been the John Reid Memorial – run in memory of one of the club’s stalwarts – and the Eric Lewis Memorial, first run in 2014 and recognising one of the founding committee members and former president (1973-1975).

The Reid Memorial was first run in 2005 over 512 metres when won by the Robert Halliday trained Itza Bee while the Robert Britton trained Zipping Basil won the inaugural Lewis Memorial over 600 metres in 2014.

Originally a maiden series, the Reid Memorial this year, in a bid to boost numbers, was programmed as a maiden/one win heats and final series – and attracted three heats.

Fastest heat winner had been Canya Guru, owned by Adelaide-based the Triple Bogeys Syndicate, which comprises James Leo, Leigh Schreier and John Elliott, and is trained at Rowsley by Matt Lanigan.

Then, when the son of Bernardo and Cayenne Model drew box one in the final he was always going to be hard to beat. And that’s how the race panned out with Canya Guru leading all the way for a 2½ length win over Costly Habits with Mary Lee a further three lengths back in third spot.

The Tracie Price trained Pinky Rocks, a daughter of Tommy Shelby and Rock It Barcia, made amends for a luckless run in a heat of the Anniversary Cup the previous week when taking on the Eric Lewis Memorial over 600 metres.

Having her first start over the distance, the speedy black bitch quickly took up the running from box seven and was never headed, eventually running out a 2½ length winner over Blue Moon Marie with a further half-length back to Aston Sushi in a race record 34.77 seconds.

Pinky Rocks, now a winner of 13 races from 32 starts, is raced by the trainer’s daughter Sarah who plays a significant role in the running of the Compton kennels.

Continuing to race well is Blue Moon Marie, the daughter of Blue Moon Rising and Galactic Athena returning to racing in February this year after a 12-month lay-off which had threatened to end her career.

And Aston Sushi, whose last win had been over 600 metres back in February, showed improvement for Millicent owner-trainer Dave Green and looks close to another win for the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club president.

February 2025 whelping Mocambora Jack brought up the first winner for the Hooked On Scotch x Mocambora Izza litter at last Thursday’s Mount Gambier time-graded meeting.

The white and blue dog was having only his second race start at Tara Raceway on the back of a third placing in a heat of the previous Sunday’s John Reid Memorial Maiden/One Win feature (305 m). And he led all the way from box eight when defeating Cinta’s Gold by two lengths in 17.93 seconds.

By My Redeemer out of Raz’s Girl, Mocambora Izza won 16 races at Tara Raceway and one at Warrnambool prior to whelping the litter out at David Peckham’s Allendale East kennels.

Scott Blacksell, who is based at Cape Bridgewater, retained four of the litter – subsequently broken-in at Koroit by Peter Byrne.

“Our pups have been a bit of a mixed bag,” Blacksell said. “And after putting in quite a bit of time with our four on trial mornings at Tara Raceway, Mocambora Jack is the one who has pleased us most when running third on debut prior to winning last week.”

And in case anyone is wondering about the Mocambora tag attached to Blacksell’s dogs, it is a rural locality and geographic area located south of Casterton which also encompasses private farming land.

Mortlake owner-trainer Shaun Baulch, back among the local winners for the first time in while a couple of weeks ago with Hit Reset, followed up again with Napier Bale in the Trackside Pet Meats TG5+W Stake (400 m).

Lining up for start number 153, the 5½-year-old son of Dyna Villa and Dyna Winter brought up win number 22 when finishing strongly and defeating early leader Compton Bowie by a length in 23.28 seconds.

Enjoying another successful day last week at Tara Raceway were Meningie-based Tim Richards and Tanya Bialek whose day kicked off with a win by Ritza Wotton in the Federal Hotel TG5+W Stake (512 m).

Trained by Richards and owned by Bialek and Millicent-based Mark Dwyer, Ritza Wotton landed his second consecutive 512 metre win in as many weeks when leading all the way from box one and defeating a fast finishing Oregon Caldwell by a half-length in 29.84 seconds.

Then, in the Greg Martlew Autos TG5+W Stake (305 m), the Richards owned and trained Jazzy Boo led all the way from box two, holding on for a head win over Tracie Price’s Compton Shelly in a time of 17.78 seconds.

But for Price it was still a pretty good day after Compton Stella, Compton Zirconia, Compton Copy and Compton Ava were successful for the Compton-based trainer.

Compton Stella quickly found the front from box four in the Greyhoundtips.com TG5+W Stake (305 m) before running out a 5¾ length winner over Cadillac Landau in 17.64 seconds.

In the following race, the Metal Worx TG1-4W Stake (400 m), Compton Zirconia also quickly found the front from box eight when defeating Nulla Danny Boy by 2½ lengths in 23.58 seconds.

And for Compton Copy it was win number 19 after she led all the way from box four in the Williams Crane Hire Stake (400 m). Scoring by five lengths, she defeated Ivory Pygmy by five lengths in a best of day 23.06 seconds.

Wrapping up yet another successful day for the leading trainer was Compton Ava who virtually led all the way from box one in the Klaassens Contractors TG1-4W Stake (305 m). On the line she had 3½ lengths to spare over litter brother Compton Baker in a personal best 17.39 seconds.

But, as it turned out, Price’s day wasn’t over just yet.

With SA racing rules requiring greyhounds to complete a satisfactory trial and obtain a veterinary certificate after having been off the track for 60 or more days, Price had opted to race two of his dogs that were in that category at Warrnambool later that night.

“The dogs in question were Canya Nameless and Huntsman,” he said. “They had both been out for 60-odd days but were certainly ready to race.

“Canya Nameless had been off the scene after sustaining a minor injury while Huntsman’s time out had been as a result of a tail injury which necessitated about three inches being of his tail being removed.

“It’s always pretty tough over at Warrnambool on a Thursday night. Anyway, where possible, a race is always better than a trial so I thought it was probably worth having a crack.”

And it certainly was worth having a crack after both dogs raced on the pace and both won their respective 390 metre races to give Price six winners for the day.