Moorak trainer Jason Newman struck an early blow for the locals at Tara Raceway yesterday when Departure Gate led all the way to defeat Devel Sixteen by 1½ lengths in the first heat of the Carlin & Gazzard MG Mount Gambier Cup (512 metres).

The 29.61 seconds win for Newman, who is currently sitting in third spot in the Ian Badger Leading Trainer award, saw Departure Gate through to the final of this Sunday’s $26,000-to-the-winner Group 3 event.

Raced by Adelaide owner Sharyn McSorley, the son of Fernando Bale x Tarks Nemesis joined Newman’s kennels last November after previous trainer Damien Bates of Trott Park temporarily relocated to WA with his wife for study purposes.

Since then Departure Gate has won nine races. This includes recent wins over Midnight Blast and Whole Way, both of whom have also won their way through to the cup final for David Peckham of Allendale East – currently sitting in second spot on the leading trainers’ list – and Tracie Price of Compton.

The all-the-way win of Midnight Blast over Keep It Black in 29.54 seconds in the following heat couldn’t have worked out better for long-time kennel clients, the Nineofus Syndicate, managed by Ross Schurgott of Happy Valley.

The syndicate’s already-planned trip to Mount Gambier for the cup final took on considerably more significance after the son of Collision x Midnight Starlet well and truly staked his claim with a run of 29.54 seconds, the second fastest of the heats.

Price, Mount Gambier’s leading trainer, caused one hell of an upset in heat four when $61 chance Whole Way, a clear last early, stormed home along the rails in the straight to edge out kennel mate and favourite Giant’s Flash for a half-length win in 29.72 seconds.

However, prior to the race, it’s a fair bet that Price would have been planning a start with the Michael Ceravolo and Daniella Madalinski owned son of Spring Gun x Springvale Hope in either this Sunday’s Tankman 600 or the Rocks Tavern Distance (732 m).

But from a training point of view, the day really belonged to Peckham. Not only did he win a heat of the cup, he also has six runners in the final of the Winning Post Formula 400 (400 m).

Dundee Reactor won the first heat with kennelmates Aston Percival and Aston Bullet also into the final when finishing third and fourth. Aston Dijon and Out Of Gas ran the quinella in the second heat while Aston Marlon qualified when finishing fourth.

And wrapping up his big day was a win with Earn The Blur in the final event, the Commercial Hotel Stake (400 m).

The Carlin & Gazzard MG Mount Gambier Cup box draw: 1 Blazing Times (Angela Langton), 2 Keep It Blue (Angela Langton), 3 Keep It Black (Angela Langton), 4 Midnight Blast (David Peckham), 5 Whole Way (Tracie Price), 6 Departure Gate (Jason Newman), 7 Quinlan Bale (Daniel Gibbons), 8 Weblec Ranger (Angela Langton). Res.: 9 Rhonda Lily (Tracie Price), 10 Devel Sixteen (Jessica Sharp).

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Glenroy greyhound Glenville Rose has in effect been racing around Tara Raceway once a week for the past two years.

And at last Thursday’s time-graded meeting the Richard Clayfield owned and trained black bitch celebrated her 100th start with a win in the Winning Post Supplies 5+Wins Stake (400 metres).

Glenville Rose led all the way from box one and despite using plenty of the track in the run home she was much too good for Major Tom Fury when winning by 5½ lengths in 23.56 seconds.

Clayfield received the daughter of Aston Dee Bee x Majestic Tale in return for rearing some of the litter. So the December 2018 whelping has been with her trainer for much of the journey.

“She started racing on May 7, 2020 and has never been anywhere else but Tara Raceway,” he said. “She’s been really resilient in that time and rarely has a week gone by that she hasn’t raced.

“The majority of her races have been over 400 metres – 92 in fact. The other eight were over 512 metres but as much as I would have loved her to have been able to run over a bit more ground it just wasn’t to be.”

Clayfield is currently trialling some of Majestic Tale’s 16-month-old pups by Magic Sprite.

Meanwhile, Cristina Gason landed her first winner at Tara Raceway in 12 months when Caribbean Queen led all the way in last Thursday’s Commercial Hotel 1-4Wins Stake (400 m) to defeat Let’s Go Fury by 2¾ lengths in 23.64 seconds.

Gason, who recently relocated with partner Kevin Quinn to Kevin Ward’s Mount Moriac property, picked up the daughter of Worm Burner and Molly Dobbs as a giveaway last July from former Tara Raceway regular Robert Proctor.

“That was my first winner here with her although she had previously won at Warrnambool. Also, it was my first winner in Mount Gambier since Naha was successful 12 months ago,” said Gason, who has been involved in greyhound racing for 20 years.

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Run in conjunction with the Triple Treat of Racing, last night’s first-time Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club and Mount Gambier Harness Racing Club joint Calcutta at the Commercial Hotel turned out to be a great success.

Kevin “KD” Douglas, after a hectic day at the Mount Gambier Racing Club Gold Cup meeting at Glenburnie, compered the evening. And Chris Manser, of Green Triangle Real Estate, auctioned the 37 greyhounds who will contest the six heats of tomorrow’s Carlin & Gazzard MG Group 3 Mount Gambier Cup (512 metres) at Tara Raceway.

Jason Newman and his daughter Zari’s handling of the computerised draw and subsequent auction information kept Calcutta-goers informed as to the progress of the pool. In fact, the pool held up well with the purchaser of next week’s $26,000-to-the-winner final set to collect $3437.

Highest-priced dog on the night was the Tracie Price trained Giant’s Flash who brought $800. The 512 metre record holder has drawn box one in tomorrow’s fourth heat. Chuck Rocks, another from the Price kennel, went for $460. He will jump from box one in heat three.

Other greyhounds to attract plenty of attention included Weblec Ranger ($400), Titan Blazer ($320), Departure Gate ($280), Lektra Rhino ($270) and Invictus Jaxon ($190).

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It was back in 2002 that former prolific trainer Graeme Bate looked to have the Mount Gambier Cup well and truly stitched up with a greyhound called Kantarn Bale.

After all, the son of Light Of Fire x Jindara Bale had won 40-odd races and more than $280,000 in stakemoney when he lined up in a heat on Saturday, May 18.

But he failed to make the final, run two days later on the holiday Monday, when finishing third behind Panda Hand. The 512 metre final was subsequently won by the Mark Delbridge trained Penny Melody in a time of 30.57 seconds.

Now, 20 years later, Bate’s grandson, Daniel Gibbons of Avalon, is back looking to make amends with Titan Blazer who has drawn box five in the second heat of Sunday’s Carlin & Gazzard MG Mount Gambier Cup (512 m) at Tara Raceway.

By Mepunga Blazer out of Miss Tron, Titan Blazer has won 15 races from 31 starts for stakemoney of more than $80,000. The black dog comes into the Group 3 Mount Gambier Cup on the back of a third placing in the Group 1 Silver Chief at The Meadows in January. He also reached the final of this year’s Group 1 Australian Cup – won twice by Gibbons’ grandfather.

Gibbons, 33, who is still chasing his first feature race win, trains in partnership with his wife Rebecca. And the pair boasts an interesting life together.

Prior to training greyhounds they had had been professional wrestlers – Daniel competing as “Danny Psycho” and Rebecca as “Samantha Stunningham”.

Rebecca is also well represented in the cup with Brendan Wheeler’s young littermates McKeon Bale and Quinlan Bale – the former, in particular, looking a top chance in the fifth heat.

By Feral Franky out of Ethla Allen, McKeon Bale has won three races from seven starts with the June 2020 whelping’s standout performance being a 29.39 seconds win over 515 metres at Sandown Park in February.

Meanwhile, Weblec Ranger’s trainer, Angela Langton of Anakie, is looking to become the first recipient of Greyhound Racing SA’s Murray Bridge Cup and Mount Gambier Cup bonuses.

Winner of the Murray Bridge Cup earlier this month, Weblec Ranger has drawn box eight in the sixth and final Mount Gambier Cup heat. Langton will receive a $10,000 bonus if the son of Kinloch Brae x Weblec Rose can now win his second cup.

However, if Weblec Ranger is unsuccessful, Langton is still in line for a $5000 bonus if one of her other runners is successful.

Local trainer Tracie Price, chasing his first Mount Gambier Cup win, holds a strong hand with Chuck Rocks and Giant’s Flash who both drew box one in heats three and four respectively.

Chuck Rocks carved out a quick 29.46 seconds over 512 metres at last Sunday’s meeting at Tara Raceway while Giant’s Flash is unbeaten in four starts at the track since running a track record of 29.19 seconds on January 20.

Toolong owner-trainer Phil Lenehan will be hoping to go one better in the cup with Lektra Rhino after his former track record holder Lektra Stomp finished second to Xtreme Caution in 2018.

He’ll also be looking to emulate his father, Brian, who in 1993 was successful with Immortal Flash (Shining Chariot x Sydney Dingaan) when the Mount Gambier Cup was run at Glenburnie.

Lektra Rhino, a son of Zambora Brockie x Lektra Viki, will contest the first heat from box one after having won his past two starts from the inside draw at Sandown Park and The Meadows.

The six heat winners and two fastest seconds will line up in the following Sunday’s Group 3 $26,000-to-the-winner final. The box draw will be conducted on track at the conclusion of this Sunday’s race meeting.

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Leading local trainer Tracie Price, of Compton, looks to have come up with another Mount Gambier Cup contender in the form of Chuck Rocks.

Having his first race start at Tara Raceway on Sunday in the Carlin & Gazzard MG Stake (512 m), the son of Fernando Bale x Rhonda Rocks gained a run as a reserve after Mrs. Watson was scratched from box one.

Raced by Adelaide owner Tyson Panagiotou, Chuck Rocks found his way down to Price’s kennels after a couple of indiscretions. The brindle dog went into yesterday’s grade six on the back of a recent quick 29.61 seconds satisfactory trial.

The August 2019 brindle dog was having only his 13th start yesterday after having previously won first-up at Shepparton over 450 metres back in June last year.

And the litter brother to Angle Park 730 metre record holder Frankie Boy never looked in any danger of defeat on Sunday when leading all the way to defeat Spring Phoebe by 4¼ lengths in a best of day 29.46 seconds.

Jason Newman’s Departure Gate will head to the Mount Gambier Cup on the back of a personal best time of 29.53 seconds after leading all the way to defeat Midnight Blast in the Tara Tipsters Thrift Shop Open (512 m).

In what was an interesting tussle, David Peckham’s Midnight Blast also ran a personal best 29.58 seconds when going down by three-quarters of a length.

Mr. Ticket, runner-up to Weblec Ranger in the recent Murray Bridge Cup, should be better for Sunday’s run when he defeated the front-running Nero Valentino in the Commercial Hotel Stake (512 m) by a nose in 29.70 seconds.

Owned by Panagiotou and trained at Lewiston by Ben Rawlings, the son of Fernando Bale x Ms. Ticket was only fairly away from box six before finding trouble on the first turn. From then on it was a case of having to work hard to gain the win.

From a Mount Gambier Cup point of view, Rawlings was last at Tara Raceway in 2016 when Caustic Bale won a heat before finishing sixth in the final as a $3 favourite behind Mojito Mayhem.

Mary Bridget, a winner of four races over 512 metres at Tara Raceway, could be ready for a cup start after another impressive 400 metre win on Sunday over Cryer’s Spring by 4¾ lengths in a best of day 22.80 seconds.

Trained at Worrolong by Steve Bartholomew, the brindle bitch is by Flying Stanley out of Galactic Cat, a half-sister to 2019 Mount Gambier Cup winner Galactic Athena, also trained by Bartholomew.

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