The win of Moorak Sally in last Thursday’s Klaassens Contractors TG1-4W Stake (400 metres) at Tara Raceway made for a real family day for Moorak part-owner and trainer Allan Holmes.

Raced in partnership with his son Tim, the daughter of My Redeemer and Galactic Mojo looked ideally drawn in box one and raced accordingly when leading all the way and defeating Cantara Pearl by 5¾ lengths in a best of day 23.00 seconds.

It would seem a 12 month break from the track has worked wonders for both trainer and greyhound with the black bitch having now won twice from five starts since returning to racing in mid-October.

Accompanying Holmes at last week’s meeting were his wife Fran, daughter Mel Jones, granddaughter Abbey and Tim’s son Connor.

Galactic Mojo, a litter sister to Galactic Athena – winner of the 2019 Mount Gambier Cup – won eight races at Tara Raceway from 33 starts before whelping the one litter that also includes Galactic Spartan.

Owned by Robert Chuck at Compton, 10 minutes down the road from Moorak, Galactic Spartan won his first three races at Tara Raceway over 305 metres and 400 metres before being transferred to Victorian trainer Matt Lanigan.

In September he strung together three staying wins at The Meadows and Sandown Park. And last Saturday night at Sandown Park he qualified for the Group 1 Bold Trease $75,000 to the winner final (715 m) when second in the first of three heats.

Well back early, Galactic Spartan secured a rails run mid-race before finishing strongly in the run home with a two length second behind Fade To Black in 41.93 seconds. This gave his owner his first Group 1 finalist.

At the conclusion of Galactic Mojo’s racing career, Chuck had handed her over to local trainer Tracie Price for breeding purposes in return for a couple of pups – one of them turning out to be Galactic Spartan.

Another successful family day out last week was that of Bendigo-based Mary and Aaron Blake, whose two winners were handled by family members Khris and Beck Blake.

Duran Rachel, who boasts strong imported bloodlines, being a daughter of Ballymac Kingdom and Fabriola Duran, is owned by Aaron and trained by Mary Blake.

Jumping from box four in the Da’Leni Meats TG1-4W Stake (305 m), Duran Rachel settled in second spot behind Fabulous Fleur before taking the lead turning for home and hanging on for a three-quarter length win in 17.88 seconds.

Later in the day, in the Cadillac Racing TG1-6W Series Final (512 m), three-quarters of a length separated the Aaron Blake owned and trained pair of Bomb Rocky and McIvor Olly. And his other runner, the Mary Blake trained Maisey’s Image, was close up in third spot in 30.39 seconds.

Bomb Rocky, who finished hard along the rails, has now won four races. He boasts fully imported bloodlines, being by Ballymac Bolger out of JD Bombshell. McIvor Olly is a son of Feral Franky out of McIvor Verna, a former 600 metre Tara Raceway track record holder.

Maisey’s Image, whose only win has been at Tara Raceway back in August over 305 metres, gave plenty of cheek as a $13 chance. She’s a daughter of Hooked On Scotch out of Adelong, a winner of 10 races at the track over 400 m, 512 m, 600 m and 732 m.

So, the Series Final turned out to be a clean sweep for the Blake team with prize money for the three placegetters totalling $1740. Nice work if you can get it on a time-graded day.

Paul and Troy Hammerstein were back among the local winners with litter brothers Is He Happy and Is He Lucky giving them a good start and Imposter bringing up a treble for the Ararat-based pair.

By Beast Unleashed out of Made Me Blind, Is He Happy quickly found the front from box eight in the Sealeys Springworks TG5+W Stake (400 m) before running out a 7½ length winner over Sarah Louise, another Blake greyhound, in 23.13 seconds.

And Is He Lucky, after overcoming a slow start in the Commercial Hotel TG5+W Stake (400 m), found the lead off the back before running home well when defeating Princess To Burn by 2½ lengths in 23.23 seconds.

Then in the Greg Martlew Autos TG5+W Stake (305 m), Imposter quickly found the front from box seven before running away to a 3¾ length win over She’s Fired Up in 17.65 seconds.

Portland trainer Nicole Stanley landed her second Tara Raceway double this year after half-sister and half-brother, Frivolous Fallon and My Boy Josh won the first and last races.

By Feral Franky out of Looks Like Turbo, Frivolous Fallon overcame plenty of early trouble before finishing strongly in the run home to defeat litter brother Fishy Fisher by 2¾ lengths in 18.66 seconds in the Federal Hotel Maiden Stake (305 m).

My Boy Josh, a son of Bernardo, took his number of wins to 15 when quickly finding the front from box one and running out a 2½ length winner over Kerry’s Cadillac in a personal best time of 17.54 seconds in the Icon Signs TG5+W Stake (305 m).

And Hamilton trainer Lorraine Goodwin, who kicked off the year when training a double with Princess To Burn and Blue To Burn, followed up with her fourth double at Tara Raceway for 2025.

First it was Major Queen, a daughter of Tommy Shelby and Princess Kiwi, who railed through off the back in the Quickmix Concrete Group TG1-4W Stake (305 m) before running out a 2¾ length winner over Maggie May in 17.97 seconds.

The win was the start of a big day for the litter with Winsome Jet also winning at Nowra and Winsome Storm successful at Wentworth Park.

Then, back at Tara Raceway later in the day, the Goodwin owned and trained Kia Keeping continued her good form at the local track when bringing up her third win from four starts.

The daughter of Fernando Bale and Ruby Keeping was in front by the first turn and was never headed, eventually running out a length winner over another smart type in Ritza Wotton in 29.80 seconds in the Williams Crane Hire TG5+W Stake (512 m).