It was only a couple of weeks ago that April Janssen set foot for the first time at Tara Raceway with her greyhound Princetown Flyer – chasing that elusive first win after 12 starts had resulted in a couple of minor placings at Warrnambool.

On that first day at the local track, Princetown Flyer contested the Da’Leni Meats Maiden/One Win Stake (512 metres). And after leading for much of the journey she finished second, beaten a half-length in the run home by Yadillah Scout.

“Given that was her first run on the track I was really pleased with the effort,” said Janssen, who runs a dairy farm with her husband Paul at Princetown which is located on the Great Ocean Road, east of the Twelve Apostles. “She’s certainly worth bringing back for another try here.”

As good as her word, Janssen was back with the black bitch for last Thursday’s time-graded meeting in Mount Gambier, this time opting to drop her back in distance to 400 metres.

And Princetown Flyer never looked like being beaten in the Icon Signs Maiden Stake when flying the start from box six and tearing away for a seven length win over Compton Layla in a tidy time of 23.24 seconds.

“She’s my first dog, my first winner and the only greyhound we have on the property. It goes without saying, I’m over the moon. Really, she’s more of a pet than a race dog although she seems to race well here behind the finish-on-lure.

“The win will also be a great thrill for our 17-year-old son Louis who once he turns 18 will assume the ownership of Princetown Flyer.”

Purchased as a pup from Ecklin South breeder Beryl Fulton, Princetown Flyer is by Tommy Shelby out of Ivy Wren, a winner of 10 races at Warrnambool and Ballarat. The litter of 10 has now all won races.

Accompanying Janssen on both her trips to Tara Raceway was her father, Terang-based Paul Herry who has been involved with greyhounds for more than 50 years.

In late 2017 he won a couple of staying races in Mount Gambier with Garku Bale, a litter brother to the million dollar stayer Fanta Bale. The following year he also won the Col and Val Sims Memorial Maiden (512 m) with Got Some Cheek.

And earlier this year Herry was successful in the Federal Hotel Maiden/One Win Stake (512 m) with Drop Fifty, his first local winner since 2018.

The whelping of Galactic Destiny’s third litter last week of three dogs and two bitches by Tommy Shelby worked out pretty well as far as Worrolong breeder Steve Bartholomew was concerned.

A few days after the whelping, the Lee Bartholomew trained Dug’s Sister – by Ando’s Mac and from Galactic Destiny’s second litter – led all the way at Tara Raceway in the Cadillac Racing TG1-4W Stake (400 m) when defeating Rough Girl Slim in a personal best time of 23.19 seconds.

And following up at Sunday’s meeting was the Elysia Bartholomew trained Devilish Child in the Trackside Pet Meats Pick 6 Stake (400 m). Settling in third spot, the white and black bitch finished strongly down the middle of the track for a neck win over Wild Milly in 23.65 seconds.

By Blue Moon Rising, Devilish Child is out of Galactic Destiny’s first litter and has now won 10 races at Mount Gambier and Murray Bridge. And litter brother Divine Nature is a 12-race winner at Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge, Warrnambool, Geelong and Sandown Park.

Another member of the Blue Moon Rising litter is Unique Destiny, who has won nine races at Bendigo, Ballarat, Healesville, Geelong, Warrnambool and Horsham.

Six-race Mount Gambier winner Galactic Destiny is a daughter of Paddy Whacker and Galactic Rumball and a litter sister to Galactic Athena, winner of the 2019 Mount Gambier Cup.

Tommy Shelby, a three-time Group 1 winning son of Fernando Bale and a winner of more than $1 million in prize money, includes among his wins the Australian Cup, Golden Easter Egg and Hobart 1000.

It was back in 2020 that the Glencoe-trained Perseverance won a keenly-contested Mount Gambier Greyhound of the Year award when defeating Dyna Carnie by one point with a further point back to Keen One.

Perseverance, a daughter of Dyna Double One and Miss Freelove, was raced by long-time local stalwart Michael Robinson and trained by Dean Fennell who first became involved in the sport when greyhound racing switched to its purpose-built complex on Lake Terrace East in January 1997.

All told, the black bitch – so named due to her reluctance to initially chase the lure and the amount of time it took for her to finally switch on – raced on 74 occasions for 16 wins before being retired in August 2021 and returning to her breeder Karen Price of Compton.

In April 2023 Perseverance whelped her first litter – six dogs and three bitches by the promising sire Feral Franky. Fennell ended up with two pups while the remainder are spread far and wide from Meningie to Murtoa and the Coonawarra to Compton.

The first of the litter to race – a brindle bitch called Magic Poppy – turned up at last Thursday’s time-graded meeting at Tara Raceway. Not in Fennell’s name, mind you, but in that of his wife, Edna, whose success in owning and training goes back to early 2021 and a dog called King Smiley.

And the Commercial Hotel Maiden Stake (305 metres) made for a successful comeback for Edna after Magic Poppy soon found the front from box six before running out a 1¾ length winner over Menari Ace in 18.04 seconds.

Robinson, a Tara Raceway regular, was on track last week to witness the win and to recall that “road trip from hell” that Fennell and he undertook to Gawler to race Perseverance back in June 2020.

“Tracie Price also had greyhounds engaged that day. But he intended staying overnight thus necessitating the taking of two cars and a travelling companion for the long trip home for Deano who was returning the same day,” Robinson said.

“To be honest, I would rather have been home watching the race on television. I need a week to get over one those sort of trips. But Tracie ensured the convoy made it to the Gawler track.

“Perseverance faced a daunting task that day, though, when taking on Boom Down, a winner of 22 races and close to $300,000 in prize money. And after missing the start she never really got into the race when finishing fifth.

“If nothing else, we figured Perseverance should have benefited from a run on a different track and as such would appreciate returning to Tara Raceway.”

However, the intrepid travellers still had to get back to Mount Gambier.

“Fair enough, we should have taken more notice of the route we were taking on the way up,” Robinson said. “But I think Tracie said take two turns left and one right. That will get you to Williamstown. Keep going to Palmer and before long you’ll hit Murray Bridge.

“Maybe he said two turns right and one left, I don’t know. All I know is that before long Deano had us hopelessly lost. And Williamstown was nowhere in sight!

“In the end he suggested we head to Adelaide and then travel to Mount Gambier via the South Eastern Freeway. That sounded like a good idea.

“The only trouble was that for the second time that night we found ourselves hopelessly lost, this time in Adelaide – and still a long way from home. Finally, though, we drove into Mount Gambier at some ungodly hour on the Saturday morning.”

However, Robinson, Fennell and Perseverance were all back in their comfort zones a few days later. Owner and trainer took no wrong turns when making their way to Tara Raceway while Perseverance ran a personal best time of 35.18 seconds over 600 metres when winning by 5¾ lengths.