Wednesday, May 9, 2018

After a 2½-week break while a major track upgrade was undertaken, greyhound racing will resume at Tara Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

A trial session was conducted on Tuesday morning with track work supervisor Tim Manterfield reporting that the trials had gone off smoothly and participants had been more than happy with the track.

Highlighting Sunday’s 10-race program will be two heats of the Trackside Meats Feature Grade Five (512 metres), the top four in each heat advancing to Sunday week’s final.

The consistent Goldie’s Run, now being trained at Glencoe by Dean Fennell, looks one of the toughest to beat in the first heat while Nicole Stanley’s Big Lebowski appears well placed in heat two after a win at Sandown Park last Sunday.

A current dearth of fast-class sprinters at Tara Raceway has seen Glenroy trainer Richard Clayfield’s Solitary Lad graded into the Produce Store Mixed Stake (600 m) for his first attempt at the middle-distance.

A recent winner of two races at Horsham prior to finishing unplaced in last week’s Stan Lake Memorial at Warrnambool behind Raw Ability, the brindle dog is one of Tara Raceway’s better 512 metre performers.

However, with Mount Gambier Cup winner Xtreme Caution currently back in Wagga with owner Matt Morris, track record holder Lektra Stomp recently sold to Adelaide and Cup Consolation winner Hutch sidelined with injury, Solitary Lad has struggled to find a race over 512 metres.

Meanwhile, local greyhounds Springvale Alysa and Galactic Panther, trained by John Little and Steve Bartholomew, will clash in a grade six 515 metre event at Angle Park tomorrow night.

Springvale Alysa, a winner of her past three starts, and Galactic Panther, third in this year’s Mount Gambier Cup, look likely to face stiff opposition from the beautifully bred Abuzz (Fernando Bale x Hope’s Up), a winner of nine races from 16 starts.

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Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Portland greyhound trainer Nicole Stanley enjoyed a big day out on Sunday when Big Lebowski and Bereluke were both successful in 515 metre events at Sandown Park.

For Big Lebowski it was a case of breaking a long run of outs as he took the lead going out of the first turn before holding on in a four-way go to win by a narrow margin in 30.15 seconds.

By Spring Gun out of Ginsue Too – a winner of a couple of races at Tara Raceway when trained by David Jones and Bernie Rogers – Big Lebowski’s last win had been back in September last year at Tara Raceway.

Later in the day, Bereluke led all the way in a 200+ ranking grade five heat and will now contest the $6260-to-the-winner final this Sunday.

A winner at Tara Raceway on ANZAC Day, Bereluke has now won two straight for Stanley and owner Michael Groves, the pair previously combining to win two races in early 2017 at the local track with McRay.

In Stanley’s kennels since mid-April, the March 2016 black bitch is by Barcia Bale out of Flying Cheryl, who raced on only six occasions for three wins over 515 metres at Angle Park in 2014, her best time being 29.75 seconds.

Flying Cheryl was trained at Two Wells by Eddie Holland, who had played for Woodville in the SANFL between 1968-1977, accumulating 137 games as well as representing SA in a state game against WA.

On Monday night, local stayers Cryer’s Plugger and Bekim Lucy’s ran the quinella for Compton trainer Tracie Price in a mixed stake over 600 metres at Angle Park.

Raced by Margaret Cryer of Apsley, Cryer’s Plugger bounced back after three unplaced Angle Park runs, winning his first race outside of Mount Gambier when railing through in the home straight to hold off Michael Robinson and Willie Vossen’s fast-finishing Bekim Lucy’s in 35.66 seconds.

Price originally took over the training of Cryer’s Plugger from Tom Cryer while Tara Raceway was in recess, however in the short term, at least, the son of Spring Gun x Cryer’s Midget is likely to remain at Compton and will return to Angle Park on Monday night.

And last night, Stanley was back among the winners again when Archaeology – successful at Tara Raceway last month – led all the way to register a strong win at Horsham over 485 metres.

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Sunday, May 6, 2018

Greyhound Racing SA has released three extra racing dates in May and June for the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club.

Following a track upgrade, racing will resume at Tara Raceway on Sunday, May 13 with extra meetings being programmed for Thursday, May 24, Thursday, June 7 and Thursday, June 21.

With the temporary closure of the Warrnambool Greyhound Racing Club for refurbishments from May through to August it is believed that the extra meetings in Mount Gambier will assist participation in the region.

GRSA has released only three extra dates in the first instance in order to gauge support, however it is the intent to also add additional race meetings in July and August while the Warrnambool works are being undertaken.

The Thursday fixtures will be non penalty time-graded meetings with races run over all distances. However, the format will differ from that of Friday time-graded meetings with maidens, 1-3 wins and 4+ wins making up the 10-race programmes.

And while the Friday time-graded meeting format remains unchanged, the Sunday main fixture which follows will also include a 5+ wins time-graded event over 400 metres and one over 512 metres.

Meanwhile, Warrnambool’s final meeting prior to its temporary closure was run last night, Kongorong trainer John Little winning his first race outside of SA with Springvale Alysa in a bitches-only 390 metre event.

Raced by Little in partnership with Liz Newberry and Kevin Mullan, Springvale Alysa has now won at her past three starts, previously successful in a 512 metre maiden and grade six at Tara Raceway last month.

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