Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club

Tara Raceway, Lake Terrace East, Mount Gambier, SA

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First-up quinella for young litter brothers

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Glencoe trainer Dean Fennell would have been more than happy with the efforts of General Max and Beat Max Bazza when the 18-month-old litter brothers filled the first two placings in the Laser Electrical Maiden Stake (400 m) at Tara Raceway last Thursday.

Having their first race starts, it was General Max who quickly found the front from box four and then proceeded to put a fair gap on his opposition when winning by 10 lengths in a more than handy maiden time of 23.43 seconds.

Dean Fennell (Beat Max Bazza) and Johnno Janz with General Max after the litter brothers ran the quinella in the first race at Tara Raceway last Thursday.

However, Beat Max Bazza should be improved by the outing, finding trouble early and looking green when using plenty of the track.

By former SA champion Worm Burner, a winner of 48 races and $380,000 in stakemoney, the pair is out of Miss Hodge, who raced on only three occasions but is a member of the handy Cape Hawke x Jamaican Ruby litter.

Owned by the trainer’s son Hayden and his partner Ebony Janz, the January 2018 whelpings were purchased at four months of age from Ecklin South breeder Beryl Fulton and reared by Dean Fennell who said it had been Worm Burner that had been the selling point.

“Hayden and his mates had previously enjoyed some success at Tara Raceway with a few performed dogs but when the Miss Hodge litter came up for sale with an asking price of $2500 each he queried whether I could handle a couple of Worm Burner pups.

“They developed into really nice dogs and later we were heartened by a promising breaking-in report from Peter Byrne at Koroit.

“And after some handy gallops at Tara Raceway trial sessions we went into last Thursday’s race as confident as you can be with greyhounds having their first start in a race.”

Worm Burner, a son of Oaks Road and Little Looper, now has approximately 50 litters on the ground – Miss Breakout further boosting his stocks when winning the Champion Puppy Classic (515 m) at Angle Park last Thursday night.


Local trainer lands first double

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Local trainer Dita Mitchell, after success at the previous Thursday’s time-graded meeting at Tara Raceway with African Leopard, continued her good run last Thursday when littermates Red Hat Ruby and Bob Square Pants were both successful for the first time this year.

For African Leopard, a giveaway from WA where he won four races, the Mount Gambier win was his first for Mitchell who had taken over the 4½-year-old son of Dyna Nalin x African Wave in February this year.

African Leopard wins his first Tara Raceway race for Dita Mitchell at a recent time-graded meeting.

In fact, the win had been the black dog’s first since August last year when he had won at Northam after three previous wins over a 12 month period at Mandurah.

Jumping from box four in the Swallow Drive Meats Stake (512 metres), African Leopard never looked like losing when leading all the way to defeat Ryben Bill by 2¾ lengths in 30.57 seconds, Mitchell conceding after the race that she had been just about ready to give up on him.

“Yes, I had been close to pulling the pin after a frustrating period when I had been unable to stabilise his racing weight – to the extent that on two occasions I received fines on a race day and had the dog scratched because of weight variation.

“Anyway, that problem seems to be sorted now and it was a terrific thrill to finally win a race with him,” said Mitchell who relocated from Victoria to Tarpeena 2½ years ago.

Christine Yourgules (left) and Dita Mitchell with Bob Square Pants after his win at Tara Raceway last Thursday.

Red Hat Ruby, who last won at Tara Raceway in October last year, made up for a so-far frustrating 2019 when quickly railing through to find the front in last Thursday’s Metal Worx Stake (400 m), before running out a 6½ length winner in 23.57 seconds.

By Banjo Boy, Red Hat Ruby is out of Jeanie’s Wish, a winner of four Victorian provincial races for Mitchell, who picked her up as a five-month-old pup for $100.

Red Hat Ruby only returned to the track earlier this month after a four month break due to a toe injury sustained in March.

Later in the day, litter brother Bob Square Pants gave Mitchell her second winner when he finished full of running to defeat Maunganui Magic and the early leader Another Scenario in the Gordon Refrigeration Stake (400 m) in 23.50 seconds.

Bob Square Pants is the dog that created a huge impression on debut last December when winning at his first start in 22.96 seconds for the 400 metre journey – at the time the second-fastest short-course maiden winner ever at the track.

While Red Hat Ruby and Bob Square Pants are now rising four-year-olds, they have raced on only 13 and 10 occasions respectively due to their fair share of setbacks along the way.

As such, Mitchell’s first-ever double was certainly a worthy reward for her patience and perseverance.


Club’s 40-year milestone

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

It’s now been 40 years since the South East Greyhound Racing Club conducted the first local licensed mechanical lure race meeting, under the auspices of the National Coursing Association, out at Glenburnie.

There was no totalisator back then but six bookmakers fielded at the opening meeting on Saturday, July 21, 1979, 10 races being conducted over distances of 289 metres, 476 metres and 667 metres.

However, the opening day had been a fair while coming, a public meeting in Mount Gambier held seven years earlier to form the SE Greyhound Racing Club which then had to overcome plenty of trials and tribulations before all parties reached an agreement in March 1977.

Ralph Patzel, who will drive the lure for Sunday’s Anniversary Cup meeting at Tara Raceway, trained the first winner at that historic 1979 greyhound meeting – Aqualair defeating Lady Chiller and Crater Star in a time of 18.40 seconds in a maiden over 289 metres.

Other winners at the opening meeting were Port McRed (S. Pearce), Rollin’s Sue (B. Parnell), Flirting Prince (L. Collins), Golden Thread (B. Rowe), Finger Bone (K. Rogers), Tara Pursuit (A. Mangan), Maaoupe Marvel (S. Geraghty), Hazel’s Dream (H. Franken) and Snippety Snip (A. Mangan).

Sunday’s Anniversary Cup will mark the 35th running of the event, the inaugural cup won by the Hazel Lane trained Kenzel Lad in 1985 and again the following year when trained by Connie Miller.

The only other greyhound to have won the event twice is the Peter Franklin trained Mojito Mayhem in 2015 and 2016.

And when racing switched to the purpose-built track on Lake Terrace East in 1997 it was local legend Col Sims who won the first Anniversary Cup run over 512 metres with Becker McLaren in a time of 30.28 seconds.

In fact, this race record stood until 2011 when Richard Clayfield’s Glenville Maggie ran 30.18 seconds, the current race record established by last year’s winner, the Nicole Stanley trained Ben Nevis with a time of 29.90 seconds.

Little separated last week’s three heat winners, Bomber Creek, trained at Mortlake by Peter Crawley, chasing tearaway leader Lektra Viki until the home turn where he railed through to go on for a 3¼ length win in the first heat in 29.97 seconds.

With a record of five wins from eight starts from the red, Bomber Creek looks perfectly drawn in box one in the final while Lektra Viki also looks well served in box two for Portland trainer Nifty Lenehan.

Dyna Naitch turned in a big effort to win the second heat for Allendale East trainer David Peckham. Away slowly from box five, the brindle dog was giving the leader Springvale Alysa a big start before rounding her up on the home turn and running out a 2½ length winner in 29.81 seconds.

Dyna Naitch has drawn box five again on Sunday while Springvale Alysa will jump from box four for Kongorong trainer John Little who will be looking for his biggest win at Tara Raceway.

And Lenehan will hold a strong hand in the final after Lektra Brandy continued her outstanding recent form with a virtual all the way win in the third heat, defeating Saint David by 3¾ lengths in 29.88 seconds.

A litter sister to Lektra Viki, Lektra Brandy will jump from box seven on Sunday while Saint David, trained at Koroit by Peter Byrne, has drawn box eight and should be improved by his first run on the track.

Saint David worked home quite well, gaining a “pass” mark for the effort from Byrne who was last represented in the Anniversary Cup by Born Billy who finished unplaced in the 2017 final won by Fiorelli Rose.

The John Reid Memorial Maiden (512 m), first run in 2005, has been thrown wide open with the inclusion of three well-bred first starters – Silent Jacko, Spooky Visitor and Cruising By – from the Peckham kennel.

Silent Jacko and Spooky Visitor are by Kinloch Brae out of the unraced Bonnie’s Secret who is a litter sister to Buck Forty (19 wins for $389,000 in stakemoney) and Burn One Down (34, $507,000) while Cruising By’s Dubbo performance trial of 29.99 seconds over 516 metres in May should have her right in the mix.

And for the first time, the Eric Lewis Memorial – run in memory of one of those gentlemen who was prominent at that public meeting all those years ago – will be run over 732 metres.

With three runners, Portland trainer Nicole Stanley holds a strong hand, Ethics looking her best chance, while Spinning Jakit should be prominent throughout for Cap Abbott of Edenhope.

Anniversary Cup heat winners: Top, Bomber Creek (Peter Crawley); Middle, Dyna Naitch (David Peckham); Bottom, Lektra Brandy (Richard Clayfield).


Living up to the hype

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Even ordinary weather conditions at Tara Raceway last Sunday failed to deter patrons from leaving the comfort of the cosy wood-heated clubrooms and venturing outside to catch a glimpse of the greyhound everyone had been talking about – Galactic Zeus.

Already, his sister Galactic Athena had won this year’s Fairthorne Forestry Mount Gambier Cup and his brother Galactic Titan only a few nights’ earlier had won his way through to the Champion Puppy final at Angle Park.

Robert Chuck (left) and Steve Bartholomew with Galactic Zeus after winning on debut at Tara Raceway last Sunday.

But Galactic Zeus was better than both of these. Or so the word went. Reportedly, there had even been a couple of 400 metre track records run on trial mornings – a few setbacks along the way holding up his race debut until last Sunday.

He’s another one of the Paddy Whacker x Galactic Rumball litter bred and raced by Robert Chuck of Moorak and trained at Worrolong by Steve Bartholomew.

And the smart punters were quick to snap up the $1.45 on offer about Galactic Zeus, who at 38 kilograms towered above his opposition as the field made its way to the 400 metre boxes for the Klaassens Contractors Maiden Stake.

Lektra Phyliss, having her first start for another local trainer in Noel Perry, quickly took up the running from box eight but Galactic Zeus had her measure by the first split, clocking 10.95 seconds before finishing the race off in fine style with a 5½ length win over the early leader.

Overall, the brindle dog ran 22.91 seconds – the quickest at Tara Raceway this year – his run home time of 11.96 seconds posing the question as to whether any greyhound had ever finished off a 400 metre race in quicker time.

Long-time track watchers at Tara Raceway on Sunday could not remember a quicker run-home time. And spare a thought for Lektra Phyliss, whose time of 23.30 seconds would win most maiden 400 metre races.

Wise Stella finds winning form again for Ben Price and Dean Fennell at Tara Raceway last Sunday.

From a maiden point of view, Galactic Zeus’s winning time was second only to Wise Stella who ran splits of 10.74 seconds and 12.15 seconds when clocking an overall time of 22.89 seconds almost 12 months ago to the day.

These days raced by 16-year-old Ben Price and trained by Dean Fennell, Wise Stella has had her share of problems since that maiden win – a second marring offence keeping her off the track for much of the first half of this year.

But the well-bred daughter of Barcia Bale x Wise Penny was also among the winners on Sunday, finding the front down the back in the Gordon Refrigeration Stake (400 m) before running away to a comfortable 2¼ length win over Tolga in 23.26 seconds.

By way of a comparison, the Tara Raceway 400 metre track record, run on Friday, February 19, 2016, is held by Cryer’s Ricky at 22.78 seconds – with splits of 10.67 seconds and 12.11 seconds.


Quick return for Serviceton trainer

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Long-time Serviceton trainer David Brodhurst continues to do well with performed greyhounds he has purchased for modest prices and that have then gone on to more than pay their way at Tara Raceway.

Another case in point is his latest acquisition, the lightly-raced three-year-old Banjo Fozz, who lined up at Tara Raceway last Sunday for her new owner-trainer in the Winningformula.net.au Stake (400 m).

Banjo Fozz finishes strongly to defeat Buckeye over 400 metres at Tara Raceway last Sunday.

Brodhurst had purchased the daughter of Banjo Boy x Fire Stricker for $600 after she had come from well back in the field to run a three-quarter length second to Someone Blue at Tara Raceway at the end of last month.

“That had been her first run at the track so I thought it was a pretty fair effort,” he said. “And after Someone Blue came out and won again here before also winning at Horsham I felt reasonably confident that Banjo Fozz would acquit herself well today.”

That she did, jumping much better this time from box seven but giving tearaway leader Buckeye a big start down the back and with still plenty of work to do turning for home before grabbing him in the shadows of the post for a neck win in 23.44 seconds.

The win, her first since last September, completed a good few days for the litter, handy types Blur and Tat James both winning at Shepparton over 450 metres and 390 metres respectively on the Thursday night prior.


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