Saturday, July 14, 2018
Paul Teuma, based over Warrnambool way at Winslow, has been making the trip to Mount Gambier for Tara Raceway’s time-graded meetings for a while now, although still chasing his first win at the track when Clyde’s Girl lined up from box eight in Friday’s Metal Worx Maiden Stake (400 metres).
But this was going to be the 71-year-old trainer’s day, Clyde’s Girl, the $21 rank outsider quickly working into second spot behind Don’s Noisey and then finishing too well in the home straight for a length win over first starter Azumi Twister who worked home well.
After the race, the affable Teuma told fellow trainers, probably marvelling at his resilience, that this had been his first winner in 10 years.
However, by the time he had returned with Clyde’s Girl for a presentation photograph, that winning time-frame had stretched to 15 years and even 20 years, depending on who you were speaking with.
Anyway, whatever the length of time between winners, it’s fair to say that the duration had been long, Teuma believing his last success would have been at Barmera’s now-defunct track where he enjoyed his fair share of success while based at Red Cliffs.
Involved in the sport “off and on” since he was 18, he picked up the nicely-bred 30 kilogram Clyde’s Girl as a giveaway after her first two race starts had resulted in unplaced runs at Young and Temora.
“I have six dogs in work at the moment and they’re all giveaways,” Teuma said. “I took over Clyde’s Girl last October and while she is 3½ years old she’s still had only 10 starts due to seasonal issues.”
By Barcia Bale, Clyde’s Girl is out of Fantastic Rose who raced on only five occasions for a win at Goulburn but is well bred, being by Spiral Nikita x Light Fantastic – Fantastic Rose’s litter brother the city-winning Fantastic Sid who won $82,000 in stakemoney.
Fifteen minutes after Teuma’s first win at the track, he lined up with Fort Santiago who was having her first start at Tara Raceway in the Trackside Meats Stake (400 m) on the back of well-beaten runs at Gosford, Nowra and Potts Park.
And for much of the race it appeared as though Teuma’s drought had well and truly broken as the SA-bred Fort Santiago (Barcia Bale x Bally Swift) bowled along in front before being beaten into second spot by Miss Premier.
All the same, though, Paul Teuma would have headed back to Winslow well-satisfied with his day and probably wondering why, only a couple of months ago, he had tried unsuccessfully to offload all his greyhounds.