It was back in July 1985 out at Glenburnie that the Anniversary Cup had first been run over 479 metres. That was the year the cup was won by the Hazel Lane trained Kenzel Lad who would then go on and win the race again the following year when trained by Connie Miller.
And despite his best efforts, current Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club (MGGRC) president, Noel Perry, had been unable to ascertain just how much prize money that inaugural cup had been worth.
However, a 1991 Coca-Cola Anniversary Cup race program recently surfaced with all details of that race having been conveniently listed – Pop Brett, trained at Portland by David Emmerson, winning the final and collecting $160.
This year the MGGRC had programmed a $10,000 Federal Hotel Anniversary Cup (512 m) final. And the response from owners and trainers had been good given that four heats were able to be drawn.
Then, three days out from the heats being run at Tara Raceway, Greyhound Racing SA dropped its $500,000 prize money bombshell!
Among the announcements specifically relating to Mount Gambier were prize money increases for next year’s Group 3 Mount Gambier Cup (512 m) – up to $50,000 – and $25,000 for the 2025 Anniversary Cup final, heats of which had already been drawn.
And connections with greyhounds who had later found their way into last Sunday’s final certainly weren’t complaining!
For Aimee Drew and Jon Malone, and their young children Reggie and Maisie, of Winslow – 15 minutes north of Warrnambool – the Anniversary Cup day had turned out to be a real family affair.
Drew had grown up in Warrnambool with greyhounds – her late father Ray successfully involved in the sport for more than 50 years while her brother Dustin also boasts a long involvement.
Malone, a plumber by trade, has been training greyhounds for a couple of years and had Larni Lou, a daughter of Koblenz x Mepunga Gem, engaged in the long-running $3000 John Reid Memorial final (305 metres).
“I’ve had her for owner Tim Keough since Christmas time and it’s taken a while for her to come good,” he said. “It took 11 starts for her to open her winning account last week in a heat of the Reid Memorial and I’m now hoping she’s turned the corner.”
Larni Lou subsequently joined a long list of previous Reid Memorial winners, which goes back to the Robert Halliday trained Itza Bee in 2005, when leading all the way from box eight and defeating Gary Lane’s One More Button by 2½ lengths in 17.72 seconds.
At Tara Raceway last Sunday for the first time were Warrnambool-based Gary Hirst, a one-dog owner, and his father Ian, hoping for success with Gary’s dog Gaping Margin who had drawn box one in the Anniversary Cup final for trainer Aimee Drew.
By Allen Deed out of Rixy Ya Pest, the black bitch had been bred at Wangoom by Mathew Wright in January 2022 and purchased as a pup by Hirst.
“I left her with Mathew to be reared and then later she started her racing career off with him prior to joining Brendan Pursell’s kennels at Lara,” he said. “Interestingly, she had been the last one to be selected out of the litter but turned out to be the best.”
Gaping Margin had won 11 races prior to joining Drew’s kennels in March this year and has now added a Mount Gambier $25,000 Anniversary Cup win to her tally after defeating Lochinvar Pearl and Royal Nangar in 30.10 seconds.
And connections had summed up the day pretty well. “Win, lose or draw, it’s always a good day out at Tara Raceway.”
Meanwhile, Murray Bridge-based Time To Fire looked to have the edge on his rivals in the $5000 Eric Lewis Memorial, which this year was run over 600 metres.
Raced by Cameron and Yvonne Butcher, the son of Fernando Bale and Mallee Dreamer never looked like being beaten for trainer Damien Smith when leading all the way for an 8¾ length win over Mango Cans in 35.25 seconds.
It’s been a busy year for Time To Fire who was successful over 715 metres at Ladbrokes Gardens in NSW back in April.
In 2023 the Eric Lewis was run over 732 metres and won by the Tim Aloisi trained Zipping Neutron. He defeated In The Bug by 11¾ lengths in a track record time of 42.73 seconds – a record that still stands to this day.
And in the $5000 Bill Ward Distance (732 m) at last Sunday’s meeting, the Judi Hurley trained Zipping Grande, who is raced by Aloisi, defeated Miss Mary Jo by a length in 43.78 seconds.