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.