There’s no doubting Warrnambool-based Kevin Finn and his daughter Marita “Midge” Byron are going to be missed at Mount Gambier’s greyhound racing meetings. After all, nicer people you couldn’t hope to meet.

It was on Sunday, February 22 that Byron chauffeured her 82-year-old father and their greyhound Moonlight Jazz over to Tara Raceway for one final time. The final time, also, that their dog would receive a special treat of an ice cream on the way home – win, lose or draw.

And while Finn will most certainly miss his greyhound racing involvement he probably won’t miss his early morning walks which for the past 15 years had seen him rise on the dot at 4.30 to attend to his one greyhound.

“Generally, I used to walk for about an hour – the one dog by necessity given that I have only two kennels with the other one housing the lawn mower,” Finn said.

“I found I didn’t encounter too many distractions at that time of the morning. Although a few hours later I would go back to bed for a while, after which I was fine for the remainder of the day.”

All told, Finn had been involved in greyhound racing for more than 55 years. The initial interest had come about when living opposite the old Warrnambool track at Botanic Park where he later won a couple of races with Kevlor Boy.

He rates his best greyhound during that time as Miss Kouta, a daughter of Dashing Eagle and Artful who won 14 races at Horsham, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Geelong, Sandown Park and Bendigo for a syndicate of five mad Carlton supporters.

“Probably my best night ever at the dogs would have been back in April 1989 when I trained three winners at Horsham – Indian Raider, Our Shiralee and Garpete Park,” Finn said.

Besides spending the last 25 years of his working life at Nestle, as well as training a few greyhounds, he also spent 13 years, twice a week, on a voluntary basis at the Warrnambool trials.

And let’s not forget Finn’s wife of more than 60 years and Marita’s mother, Lorraine.

Back in 2023 at the Sandown Park Women in Racing night Lorraine received the Marg Thomas Award for the most outstanding female contribution to the sport of greyhound racing.

At the time Warrnambool Greyhound Racing Club manager, Craig Monigatti, had said Lorraine Finn was not only a special person to him but also the club.

“She’s so reliable and you just know that what she’s taking care of in our on-track shop is going to be organised and done. She doesn’t seek the limelight but on that particular night at Sandown Park it had been her turn to shine.”

Kevin Gavin, of Tower Hill, was over for Tara Raceway’s time-graded meeting last Thursday with his wife Raylene’s greyhound Impress Joe – chasing his first win in pretty well 12 months to the day at the Mount Gambier track.

And the son of Fernando Bale and She’s Salacious quickly took up the running from box one in the Cadillac Racing TG5+W Stake (305 metres) before scoring a three length win over Cadillac Magic in 17.69 seconds.

A maiden winner at Tamworth in mid-2024, Impress Joe found his way into the Gavin kennels as a giveaway later that year and has now won a further five races at Warrnambool and Mount Gambier.

In the race prior, the Metal Worx TG5+W Stake, Myola Nick went into the race for Purdeet owner-trainer Annette Kampman having won 19 races from 110 starts.

But his last win at Tara Raceway had been at his first start back in July 2023 when he defeated Lynette Ann by 6¼ lengths in 17.54 seconds in a maiden heat over 305 metres.

Jumping from box one last week, Myola Nick settled in second spot behind Cadillac Girl before taking the lead turning for home and running out a 4½ length win over Saint Bree in 17.66 seconds.

Bargain buy Trust Deed is filling in time for Heathmere owner-trainer Garry Marshman. Especially after the son of Allen Deed and Indy’s Happy finished strongly in the Williams Crane Hire TG1-4W Stake (400 m) and narrowly defeated Myola Nick’s litter sister Myola Dusk in 23.47 seconds.

For Marshman it was his first win with the black dog, on the back of three unplaced runs at Warrnambool while he awaits the breaking-in of a couple of pups.

The pups in question are November 2024 whelpings by 40-race winner Quinlan Bale out of Dusseldorp, a daughter of Barcia Bale and Call Me Gee.

As far as Wind Whiskers, the 2025 Mount Gambier Greyhound of the Year (GOTY) was concerned, it had all began with Trevor Rhodes from over Bonegilla way in Victoria and a greyhound called Ashleigh Ella.

A daughter of Where’s Pedro x Sister Inc she was bred and trained for Rhodes by Doug and Lorraine Ferremi, best known for their association with Highly Blessed, inducted into the AGRA Hall Of Fame in 2000.

A winner of 11 races between 2008 and 2010, Ashleigh Ella later whelped three litters by Bobby Boucheau, Velocette and Collision.

And members of her October 2011 Velocette litter included Ash Flash (24 wins, $138,000 prize money) and Hillbilly Flash (16, $65,000).

Later, following a mating with Aussie Infrared, Ash Flash produced Takers To Vegas, a winner of 14 races and $31,000 in prize money, who subsequently was mated with Beast Unleashed and produced Wind Whiskers.

Trevor Rhodes died in August 2025 at the age of 72 but his wife Lenore, daughter Michelle Erdeli and 10-year-old granddaughter Zoe made the trip over to Tara Raceway to receive last Sunday’s GOTY award.

The GOTY winner is raced by the Show Girls Syndicate, with Michelle explaining the name came about after a group of the girls had enjoyed a holiday in Las Vegas.

Wind Whiskers found her way down to Mount Gambier and Jason Newman and Melissa Freitag’s Moorak kennels in late 2024 after having raced on only four occasions at Temora and Wagga for a maiden win.

Come mid-January 2025 and she kicked off the year in fine style and never looked back. However, by early October Newman and Freitag were scaling down their greyhound operation and Millicent-based Dave Green was set to take over.

Not that anything changed. Wind Whiskers continued on her winning way with another nine wins to see out the year as well as breaking her own 305 metre track record with a run of 17.24 seconds.

All told, Wind Whiskers won 23 races at Tara Raceway together with seven seconds and four thirds for a total of 97 points – 25 clear of Mister Cadillac.

For the fourth consecutive year, Tracie Price of Compton won the Ian Badger Leading Trainer award with 137 Mount Gambier winners, 145 seconds and 120 thirds for a total of 958 points. Previously, he had been successful in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018.

The award is named after the late Ian Badger who was the club’s inaugural leading trainer back in 1978-1979.

Price finished 410 points clear of Allendale East-based David Peckham with a further 206 points back to Kyle Goodwin of Hamilton.

And he wrapped up the year with five winners at Tara Raceway on Sunday, December 28 with Rock It Ronnie, Compton Ava, Compton Rocks, Trial King and Capybara.

Making up the top 10 trainers of the year were Dean Fennell, Kerry Hawker, Captain Abbott, Lorraine Goodwin, Melissa Freitag, Michael Niele and Tony Hinrichsen.

In accepting the Leading Trainer award, Price once again made a special point of mentioning his team of helpers at his Compton kennels and also on race days.

Also a Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club committee person, he thanked the club and its staff for their support on race and trial days and on a day to day basis at the Lake Terrace East complex.

Nola Keeping, winner of the recent St Leger classic (530 metres) at Angle Park for Lewiston trainer Nicole Price, is a strong chance of returning to Mount Gambier next month for heats of the Group 3 Mount Gambier Cup (512 m).

This follows her 4¾ length win over Big Diesel in last Sunday’s Tracie Price Leading Trainer Stake (512 m) at Tara Raceway in 30.02 seconds on a rain-soaked track.

By Feral Franky out of Gina Keeping, the black bitch, owned by Price’s 16-year-old son Liam, has now won seven races since joining her kennels in September last year.

However, following Sunday’s race, a kennel spokesperson said a decision would be made later in regard to whether she would return to Tara Raceway for another run prior to the Mount Gambier Cup heats on Sunday, March 29.

Nola Keeping was one of four winners for Price at last Sunday’s meeting with Galba Stacey, Slick Angel and Todd Keeping also flying the flag for the kennel. Meanwhile, she was at Gawler’s Sunday night meeting where she had been successful with Grand Perfection.

It’s now more than four years ago since long-time greyhound man Captain Abbott of Cadillac Racing at Edenhope purchased three NSW-bred 12-month-old litter sisters by Fernando Bale out of Miss Ibrox.

One of the purchases was never named while another of the trio was retired early in her career due to injury. But the third one – white and fawn and named Cadillac Girl – continues to race to this day.

“And to be honest, I probably had a few doubts about her when she first arrived given that at her first race start she weighed in at 21.4 kilograms,” Abbott said.

“She actually won at her fourth start at Tara Raceway in 18.07 seconds over 305 metres in May 2022. All up she has now raced on 161 occasions – four of her starts being at Angle Park and Horsham and the other 157 at the Mount Gambier track.”

Weighing in at 24.1 kilograms and chasing her 20th win, Cadillac Girl led all the way from box seven in last Thursday’s Greg Martlew Autos TG5+W Stake (305 m). On the line she had 1¼ lengths to spare over Aston Azul in 17.85 seconds.

Earlier in the day, the Abbott-bred Cadillac Ragtop, a daughter of Premier Fantasy and Pamela Rocks, led all the way when defeating Saint Bree by 2¼ lengths over 305 metres in 17.79 seconds for Cadillac Racing partner Kerry Hawker.

Cadillac Ragtop has now raced on 114 occasions, 110 starts being at Tara Raceway for 32 wins. All told she has now won more than $40,000 in prize money.

And Puddin’ Cake, trained at Painswick in Victoria by Rick Boehm, brought up her second win when virtually leading all the way in the Cadillac Racing TG1-4W Stake (305 m) and hanging on to score by a neck over Saint Ella in 18.18 seconds.

The June 2022 daughter of Aston Dee Bee and Avatar Minty has raced on only 18 occasions, all at Mount Gambier, after first overcoming a lengthy leg injury and then another extended period due to seasonal issues.