Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Jack Casey was at Tara Raceway last Sunday, the designated driver for Penshurst trainer John Burow and his greyhound Good Yarn.

But Casey, well known to Sky viewers around Australia through his demonstrative actions at the finish line fence after a race, somehow seemed to be off his game – something just wasn’t right.

Eventually, he vented his displeasure. “That bloody big turd just inside the fence is really annoying me,” he said.

Next, he perused a race book. “Just as I thought, there’s no turdologist listed among the race day officials.”

So the honorary patron of the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club – well, he is now – grabbed the “pooper-scooper” leaning against the fence and embarked on a one-man “clean up Tara Raceway” campaign centred on the parade ring.

But Casey probably got more than he bargained for as he started on his clean up campaign, soon discovering there were a few more dog droppings in the vicinity than simply the one that had been annoying him by the fence.

The job didn’t last long, though, because the “pooper-scooper” was soon full. An ideal opportunity, as it turned out, for Casey to hop in to the clubrooms and grab some of the $14 that was being offered about his travelling companion and eventual winner Good Yarn.

Monday, February 12, 2018

The all-important box draws for feature event finals run by the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club at Tara Raceway are now being conducted by a Greyhound Racing SA steward at the track at the completion of the heats.

GRSA steward Josh Evans (pictured) supervised the box draw for this Sunday’s Peter Rocket Summer Classic final after the two heats had been run yesterday with the final outcome being: 1 Andrew’s Gift (Tracie Price), 2 Galactic Panther (Steve Bartholomew), 3 Breemelia Swift (Tony Hinrichsen), 4 Shot Thru (Jamie Quinlivian), 5 Assertive Fury (Tony Hinrichsen), 6 Same Scenario (Tracie Price), 7 Dynamite Danger (Tracie Price), 8 Serene Machine (Jamie Quinlivian). Res. Shine On Shannah, Filthy Phantom.

On-track box draws will now be conducted for feature event finals such as the Mount Gambier Cup, Anniversary Cup, Christmas Cup and classics.

Meanwhile, the latest range of headwear was released at Tara Raceway yesterday – black caps emblazoned with the lettering “Get a piece of Team Weis” – referring, of course, to Portland trainer Brian Weis.

The launch, however, did fall a bit flat when the best Weis could come up was a third placing with Xtreme Notice.

Young Zoe stuck by her grandfather, though, agreeing to model one of the caps, big sister Alex taking the photograph.

Monday, October 2, 2017

When local greyhound participant Ken Feltus struck the $1340 Pick 6 jackpot at Tara Raceway at the end of August it had been more than two years since it had last been won.

Damien Stanton with his winning Pick 6 ticket at Tara Raceway on Sunday.

Sponsored by Steve and Lee Bartholomew, who add $10 to the pool every week, the Pick 6 is a free competition that requires on-course patrons to select the winners of races three through to eight.

The Pick 6 was won again at last Sunday’s meeting and while the pool had had little time to re-build Damien Stanton of Mount Gambier certainly wasn’t complaining.

Fair enough, there were a couple of odds-on winners among the six but Stanton did pretty well to reach the final leg after selecting Problem Solved ($3), Cryer’s Plugger ($1.90), Solitary Lad ($2.40), Hit The Runway ($1.65) and Kolora Posie ($4.50).

And his selection in the last leg was Peter Crawley’s more than handy Zuma Creek who had previously won at Tara Raceway in a smart 29.77 seconds for the 512 metre journey.

Peter Crawley with Zuma Creek, winner of the final leg of the Pick 6.

A $3.60 chance from box six, Zuma Creek was slowly away but quickly worked into a forward spot before railing through on the leader Swift Limes off the back and running out a three length winner in a best of day 29.95 seconds.

Stanton, son of canteen staff member Carol, said he was an occasional Pick 6 player but had never previously got close to a collect.

So, in what has been the shortest time ever between collects, the Pick 6 reverts to its $10 starting point with Tara Raceway now surely needing to throw up a few roughies to give the pool a much-needed boost.

Friday, September 8, 2017

The canteen girls, Tania and Carol, must have been wondering what the hell was going on.

Phil Lenehan salvages the no parking sign and points out to Dawn Kay as she shifts her car that she had been illegally parked.

Here they were busily preparing for Friday’s Tara Raceway meeting when, through their window, they spotted bar manager Dawn Kay’s car silently rolling down a slight embankment and heading in the direction of the canteen section of the clubrooms.

The only trouble was the bar manager wasn’t in the car!

The car came to a halt after crashing into a safety fence and a post supporting the back verandah roof with a slightly-shaken Dawn later conceding that she had neglected to place the vehicle in “park” after unloading some bar supplies.

Now, the irony of the whole incident was that Dawn had pushed for some time for a safety fence to be erected at the back entrance and also for there to be no parking in this area.

But in one fell swoop her car demolished a section of the safety fence and knocked down a supporting verandah post which saw the roof take on a decided drop in one corner.

And as Demolition Dawn prepared to shift the car, Phil Lenehan was quick to remind her that she was illegally parked!

Pictures: Tracie Price.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Tara Raceway regular Scott Blacksell, of Cape Bridgewater, likened it to putting on a wet football jumper before going out to play.

Scott Blacksell and the new Simpson clothes dryer he donated to the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club.

He was, of course, referring to the situation at Tara Raceway on wet days – and there have been a few this year – whereby some greyhounds prior to racing had found themselves required to wear a damp racing rug.

Matters came to a head at last Friday’s race meeting when Blacksell, a former member of the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club committee, approached current committee member Allen Williams.

“Go and buy a bloody clothes dryer and I’ll donate it to the club,” he demanded of Williams.

Well, Williams didn’t have to be told twice and before Tara Raceway had cleared that afternoon he had returned with a Simpson dryer.

“I thought I’d get it before Scotty changed his mind,” Williams said.

And soon after that, local steward John Woodland – no doubt soon to be appointed the official rug dryer – had the dryer mounted on the kennel house wall.

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to get things moving. Scott Blacksell proved that and his donation will be much appreciated by trainers racing their greyhounds at Tara Raceway.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

10-year-old Alex was in the wars after tripping on her shoelaces at school and breaking a wrist.

With her left arm in a sling, young race-track regular Alexandra Filliponi of Portland looked like she’d been in the wars at Tara Raceway last Sunday.

Alex, 10, is the custodian of the on-track kids’ playground which is officially known as Alexandra’s Playground after the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club took note of her complaints that greyhound racing was boring and the kids on course needed something else to help fill in the day.

But, no, she didn’t fall off one of the swings and break an arm.

Turns out Alex, a grade five student at a Portland primary school, tripped over her shoelaces and broke a wrist.

She’s the granddaughter of Brian and Sally Weis, of Portland, who were at Sandown Park on Sunday with a luckless Big Rough – owned locally by Noel and Heather Perry.

Handling Weis’s three runners at Tara Raceway was his daughter Sam (Alex’s mum).

Moesha “Mo” Canala must have been wondering what was going on when she was led, blindfolded, from the clubrooms at Tara Raceway on Sunday. But Mo, who celebrated her 16th birthday on Sunday, received the surprise of her life when removing the blindfold. A regular catcher at the race meetings, Mo had been putting away her catching fees towards the purchase of a new car. But with the help of family, a slick little black Suzuki adorned with a big red bow and custom plates had been fast-tracked for her birthday and was waiting for her at the track.

The last time we caught up with Kevin “KC” Clayfield was back in November when he was making a mad dash into the Tara Raceway clubrooms with a whopping big cutlery set that Glenville Jester, which he part-owns, had received after winning the Newman McDonnell Memorial. Well, he was on the trophy trail again last Sunday, quickly grabbing the presentation rug and cup after the Jester, who is trained by his brother Richard, continued on his winning way in the Christmas Cup final. “Richard can have the cup but I’m keeping the rug,” KC was heard to say. KC looked the worst for wear when this picture was taken as he had just fallen when catching Glenville Jester after the win. He was actually taken to hospital for observation but we’re pleased to report that all is good and he’s now home.

Normally the Tara Raceway greyhound fields, whether for Friday or Sunday meetings, are published in the Mount Gambier newspaper The Border Watch on a Friday. But for some reason fields for the December 9 meeting were run in the Thursday edition. It seems one regular racegoer, who shall remain nameless, was totally thrown by the change in procedure and figured when he saw the fields that it must have been Friday and he duly turned up at the track for the 12-race card. Needless to say, from a racing point of view there wasn’t much happening at the track on the Thursday. Still convinced it was Friday and at a loss as to why there was no race meeting, the unnamed racegoer sought out a local trainer at home who pointed out that it was Thursday and the dogs were on the next day. The unnamed racegoer then asked the trainer if he could keep the incident quiet. Yeah, like that was going to happen!

Picture: The unnamed racegoer spotted at Tara Raceway’s “phantom meeting” on Thursday.