It’s fair to say that when McLaren Vale trainer Gavin Harris headed off to the South East with Dashing Jordy early on Sunday morning for the club’s $50,000 Group 3 Trackside Pet Meats Mount Gambier Cup (512 metres) he would have been rating himself some chance in the final.
After all, the red fawn dog had already won more than $170,000 in prize money and in his heat the previous week had gone close to Uriel Bale’s 29.15 seconds track record when stopping the clock at 29.16 seconds.
But last Sunday morning, not all that far into his journey, Harris hit a road block in the form of a kangaroo. Fortunately, there was no damage to the passengers but a fair amount to the motor vehicle.
As luck would have it, Lewiston-based Ashlee Griffiths was also travelling down to Mount Gambier with partner Cam Forshaw’s cup contender Gunning Bandit and a few other runners who then found themselves joined by Dashing Jordy.
So Team Harris’ son of Fernando Bale and Dashing Wilma, as a result of Griffiths’ generous assistance, made it to Mount Gambier. Not so his trainer, though.
Although not considered that well drawn in box two, Dashing Jordy still went to the boxes a $1.90 chance. But turning into the back straight and Harris’s day just got worse when the favourite was checked out of the race.
Meanwhile, another Lewiston-trained greyhound in Rob Harnas’ front-running Flying Artie was looking to make every post a winner. And he gave it his best shot but was unable to hold out Gunning Bandit who won by 1¼ lengths in a race record time of 29.32 seconds.
The Mount Gambier Cup previous record had been established by the Victorian-based Titan Blazer who ran 29.36 seconds when winning the 2023 event.
Whelped in January 2024, Gunning Bandit had been purchased by Forshaw from NSW-based Andy Lord after having won two races and run two second placings at Goulburn in October last year.
“Cam had liked the look of him and he certainly hasn’t let us down,” Griffiths said. “He kicked off his SA racing career with a steady 31.42 seconds win at Angle Park late last year but since then he’s won another 10 races.”
There’s not too much wrong with his breeding. By Feral Franky, the brindle dog is out of Coast Model, the daughter of Fernando Bale and Champion Model winning 28 races and more than $268,000 in prize money.
Last Sunday’s win was Griffiths and Forshaw’s first Mount Gambier Cup although they had previously won the 2024 Murray Bridge Cup and the 2023 Gawler Cup with Adhana Rico.
And Griffiths, who has been based at Lewiston for the past two years at a property previously owned by well-known greyhound man Petar Jovanovic, is hoping for further exciting times with their greyhounds.
“We have provision for 30 greyhounds in kennels as well as five litters coming along that are all under six months of age,” said the daughter of Victorian-based Bec Romyn who trained Renewed, runner-up to Zipping Zarbo in the 2021 Mount Gambier Cup.
Complementing the cup was the Federal Hotel sponsored Mount Gambier Cup Consolation (512 m) for greyhounds that had contested the heats but missed out on the final. And making the presentation had been Toni Trabilsie.
On the back of a third placing in her heat behind Gunning Bandit it was box one runner Zipping Sigrid who found the front going into the back straight before holding on for a narrow win over Belair Betty and Capybara in 29.57 seconds.
Trained at Lara by Dallan Klemke, Zipping Sigrid is by Zack Monelli out of Zipping Miranda. She is a litter sister and kennelmate to Zipping Sandchez who also contested the Consolation. And contesting the cup final had been another litter sister and kennelmate in Zipping Andora.
Meanwhile, representing Greyhound Racing SA at the Mount Gambier Cup were David Lewis (Chairman and Non-Executive Director), Nicolle Rantanen Reynolds (Deputy Chair and Non-Executive Director) and Chief Operating Officer Ben Kavenagh.
Presenting the 46th Mount Gambier Cup to Griffiths was the Hon. Tony Pasin, Member for Barker. He also congratulated the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club on its outstanding efforts at the Lake Terrace East complex and the manner in which the sport is conducted.
