For Stuart Sharam and his 15-year-old son Liam it had been a case of heading home to the Coonawarra from Tara Raceway on Sunday afternoon with a winner.

The greyhound in question was Head For Home, the son of Bernardo and Reinforcements owned in Horsham by Peter Carter.

Contesting the Greyhoundtips.com.au Mixed Final (400 metres), Head For Home settled in second spot down the back behind Lenny Limes before finishing strongly in the run home for a three-quarter length win in 23.02 seconds.

Lenny Limes, a son of Aston Rupee and Elle Limes, ran second while his litter brother Gus Limes – current Mount Gambier Greyhound of the Year leader – picked up another GOTY point after running third.

Head For Home has now won three races at Tara Raceway since joining Sharam’s kennels back in May. He’s also the dog who set the track alight one trial morning back in July with an unofficial 305 metre record of 17.15 seconds.

Sharam, a long-serving viticulturist with Hollick Estates in the Coonawarra, also trains the Carter-owned Poke Salad Annie who has won eight races from only 15 starts.

Meanwhile, Terang-based Team Roberts – Mark and Catherine – sounded the alarm in the Cadillac Racing Stake (305 m) with Aston Alarm who defeated kennelmate Paw Whisper.

An August 2024 son of Aston Rupee and Aston Lopez, the black dog’s grand-dam, Secret Spell, was a winner of 23 races and more than $275,000 in prize money.

Purchased recently from Ray Borda, Aston Alarm was having his first start for his new owners. And he never looked like losing after leading all the way for a 1½ length win in 17.80 seconds.

The win was his fifth with his previous four wins all at the Ladbrokes Q One Turn Lakeside track in Queensland.

Kicking off last Sunday’s 11-race meeting was the Ontrack Insider Maiden Stake (305 m). And Winslow trainer Jon Malone was back among the winners at Tara Raceway with Rebekah Joy.

Away well from box four, and despite using plenty of the track turning for home, she was always travelling like a winner. On the line she had 2½ lengths to spare over Tabasco Fiasco in 17.72 seconds.

By Tommy Shelby out of Mepunga Gem, Rebekah Joy was bred and is owned by Nirranda dairy farmer Tim Keogh who named the winner after his wife.

“Tim and Rebekah are really good supporters of our kennels so it was certainly pleasing to see her win for them today,” Malone said.

“I had her for the early part of her education and then sent her back to Nirranda to give her time to mature. She then came back to Winslow at about 17 months of age.”

Interestingly, Malone’s last winner at Tara Raceway had been back on April 5 – Mount Gambier Cup day – with a dog called Larni Lou who won over 512 metres in a quick 29.68 seconds.

By Koblenz, Larni Lou is a half-sister to Rebekah Joy and raced in the same interests.

After a couple of outs, Moonlight Nellie found winning form again in the Ferness @ Stud Mixed Stake (512 m) for Warrnambool owner Linda Gore and Millicent trainer Dave Green.

Finding the front moving into the back straight, the daughter of Fernando Bale and My Girl Kizzy eventually ran out a 4½ length winner over Duran Nirvana, who finished off the race well, in 29.74 seconds.

Moonlight Nellie may now tackle the $5000 Mount Gambier heat/s of the SA Country Cup (512 m) which will be run at Sunday’s meeting.

And the forthcoming Trackside Pet Meats Spring Classic (512 m), heats to be run on Sunday, November 1 and the $10,000 final on Sunday, November 8, should also suit the black bitch.

The Spring Classic is for dogs and bitches whelped on or after July 1, 2024. A winner of four of her past six starts for Green, Moonlight Nellie is a September 2024 whelping and well placed on the age scale.

As far as the Metal Worx Mixed Stake for stayers was concerned, Blue Moon Marie, after going down by 2¼ lengths the previous week over 732 metres, certainly turned the tables on Kia Keeping.

Once again, Kia Keeping went straight to the front in the four-dog race but down the back straight the second time Blue Moon Marie took up the running before finishing powerfully for a 7¾ length win over the early leader in 43.73 seconds.

Raced locally by Noel Miller and Peter Lamond, and trained at Koroit by Peter Keane, Blue Moon Marie’s win was the sixth for the daughter of Blue Moon Rising and Galactic Athena.