Toni Trabilsie, venue manager since June of the Federal Hotel – one of the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club’s valued sponsors – called into Tara Raceway last week to witness the running of the Federal Hotel Stake (400 metres).
She also caught up with some of the hotel regulars who also happen to be regulars at the twice-weekly afternoon greyhound meetings on Lake Terrace East.
And forget the spelling, because the winner of the race, Lektra Tony, was obviously quite appropriate. These days, raced by husband and wife team Mark and Cath Roberts, the son of Houdini Boy and Lektra Jena has now won five races since relocating to Terang.
The fawn dog also ran a terrific race when beaten 1¼ lengths by Fireworks in this year’s Mount Gambier Anniversary Cup (512 m) in July.
Speaking after the running of last week’s Federal Hotel Stake, Toni said she had many fond memories of attending greyhound racing meetings at Angle Park as a youngster.
“My pop, Steve Trabilsie, was right into greyhounds. In fact, he raced Festival Sal in partnership with Des Saint and in 1986 she won the Greyhound of the Year when trained by Jack Godfrey.”
Also catching up with Toni on the day was another Terang trainer in Paul Herry who tells us he purchased a pack of 10 thank you cards and so far has used two of them to thank race sponsors at Tara Raceway.
“Back in May I won a Federal Hotel Stake with a greyhound called Drop Fifty. And without sponsors we wouldn’t have a meeting so in appreciation I sent a thank you card and a scratchie to Toni at the Federal Hotel,” Paul said.
“Then, about a month later, I won with Rose Of Terang, the race being sponsored by Chris Klaassens of Klaassens Contractors. So I also sent him a thank you card and a scratchie.
“And it was certainly good to be able to catch up with Toni and thank her personally for her involvement with the club.”
CATCHING UP WITH AN EVER-POLITE FORMER PARTICIPANT
Meanwhile, when my wife Ruth and I relocated some years ago to Naracoorte from Adelaide, locals Jim and Maureen Biggins were actively involved in greyhound racing and regularly made the 200 kilometre round trip to race in Mount Gambier.
They coursed greyhounds, raced at the Glenburnie race course’s Tara Raceway and later at the current venue on Lake Terrace East.
One of their better greyhounds was Gannet Supreme, the 1992 Greyhound of the Year and a winner of 16 races from 48 starts. A son of Gannet and Powder’s First, he was bred by Maureen in March 1987.
Age-wise, there wasn’t all that much difference between the Biggins or us. But that never stopped the ever-polite Maureen from always referring to us as Mr and Mrs Lewis.
By the time we moved to Mount Gambier in 2009, Jim and Maureen’s involvement in greyhound racing had slowed down. Jim passed away on December 25, 2022 while Maureen still resides in Naracoorte.
She appeared from around the corner of the clubhouse at last Thursday’s Tara Raceway meeting only to encounter the “bench boys” seated on the wooden benches that had been donated to the club at a time the Biggins had been involved.
Down in the Mount for the day, Maureen had decided to drop in and check out the racing at Tara Raceway. Making her welcome was the head “bench boy” Michael Robinson, chief steward when the Biggins were racing greyhounds.
I was seated alongside the “bench boys” when the greeting came. “Hello Mr Lewis. Is Mrs Lewis in the office?” Nothing had changed.
But it was nice to catch up again with Maureen. Sorry, maybe I should rephrase that – it was nice to catch up with Mrs Biggins.