It’s not all that often that Victorian greyhound trainer Michael Katsiris makes the 10-hour round trip over to Mount Gambier from the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown for a Tara Raceway meeting.

But when he does, his success rate is generally pretty good – as was the case last Thursday when he landed his first double at the track with Redshift Papa and Redshift Uniform.

Redshift Papa, a son of Ritza Lenny and Wentworth Park winner Queen Of Ziems, virtually led all the way in the Klaassens Contractors Maiden Stake (305 metres) when holding out Uncle Stripes for a three-quarter of a length win in 18.21 seconds.

Purchased from NSW owner Peter Tweddle, the red fawn dog had found his way down to Victoria last month on the back of a couple of unplaced runs at Dapto.

And speaking after the race, Katsiris had been the first to admit that he hadn’t been expecting too much from Redshift Papa.

“His form had been only average. And given that he’s a young dog and was having his first look at the track I wasn’t really all that confident, especially as he’s still doing a bit wrong. I’m hopeful, though, that there will be further improvement in him.”

Redshift Uniform, a daughter of Barcia Bale and Taylor Made Star – Queen Of Ziems’ litter sister – was always on the pace in the Exchange Printers TG1-4W Stake (512 m). And after taking the lead off the back she ran home strongly for a four length win over Saint Ollie in 30.26 seconds.

“She was another one of Peter’s breed to also find her way down here. Actually, today’s double is my first since returning to the sport 18 months ago after a break of 25 years,” Katsiris said.

The last time he had raced at Tara Raceway had been back in January when Larry And Harry won over 400 metres in a quick 22.90 seconds.

With seven greyhounds currently in work, Katsiris said his team, while running plenty of placings in Victoria, was finding it hard to win races, given the competition in that state.

And on Saturday night, Redshift Romeo, a litter brother to Redshift Uniform, was engaged over 450 metres at Traralgon. However, despite running a terrific race, he was narrowly beaten into second place.

Meanwhile, Cape Bridgewater owner-trainer Scott Blacksell, currently contending with hip replacement issues, was back on track last Thursday to see Mocambora Izza score an upset win in the Greg Martlew Autos TG5+W Stake (400 m).

The daughter of My Redeemer and Raz’s Girl brought up her 11th win when leading all the way from box seven, defeating long odds-on favourite Blue Sky Boy by 2¼ lengths in 23.32 seconds.