Mr. Anderson’s big win in Sunday’s Commercial Hotel Juvenile Stake (400 metres) at Tara Raceway now has part-owner Jason Newman of Moorak weighing up his options with the son of Benardo and Dusseldorp.

Taking on a smart field of greyhounds under two years of age, the red fawn dog defeated Snap Shot by 8¾ lengths in what turned out to be a best of day 23.09 seconds for Newman, his partner Melissa Freitag, who is also listed as the trainer, and Derek Anderson.

Newman said short term the aim was to try and win his six juveniles with the SA-bred Mr. Anderson.

“He’s still able to win a further three prior to the end of December. And the good thing is that he’s not locked into short course races because he’s already shown in a trial that he can run out a strong 512 metres.

“And with Derek closely involved with Callington trainer Wendy Sebastyan and her brother Bryan, we’re then seriously considering sending Mr. Anderson up there in order to give him some racing on different tracks.”

Highlight of the day was the running of the two SEGRC 50-Year Anniversary Cup heats (512 m) – the Newman trained Departure Gate leading all the way to defeat Captain Larry by 1¼ lengths in 29.70 seconds in the first heat.

Victa Grosso, the 512 metre track record holder, defeated Wind Burn Flash by 11¾ lengths in the second heat in 29.37 seconds and was the first of four winners for Gifford Hill trainer Tony Rasmussen.

In fact, with Willow, Show Me Bucks and Miers to follow, this was his best day at the local track since June 3, 2021 when he had been successful with Cawbourne Wolf, Cash Or Cheque and Cash Currency.

The nicely-bred Willow (Aston Dee Bee x Purpose Driven) quickly found the front from box eight in the Rocks Tavern Stake (512 m) and was never going to be beaten.

A brother to Tim Richards’ 25-race winner He’s All Purpose (Mount Gambier Summer Classic and SA Country Cup winner), Willow had seven lengths to spare over Menari Tom in 30.24 seconds.

Then, in the Carlin & Gazzard MG Stake (512 m), Show Me Bucks, named after former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, held out Scorching Sun to win by three-quarters of a length in 30.46 seconds.

And Miers, a daughter of Fernando Bale and Cairnlea Shadow – and litter sister to Robert Halliday’s 16-race winner Shady Past – displayed plenty of early dash when defeating Saint Ollie by 2¼ lengths in 23.26 seconds in the Cadillac Racing Stake (400 m).

The high earners were out in force at Mount Gambier on Sunday. Well, certainly high earners from a local greyhound racing perspective, anyway. Victa Grosso has now won $141,570 while newcomer Jayville Slick took his earnings to $153,235.

Jayville Slick, who will turn five in January, slipped unobtrusively into Tracie Price’s Compton kennels three months ago after having last raced in February at Cannington in WA.

Better known as a stayer, the brindle and white dog’s racing had alternated between Victoria and WA where he went around on 94 occasions for 18 wins and 39 minor placings.

By Fernando Bale out of Tyra Giselle, he lined up in Sunday’s Trackside Meats Stake (400 m) on the back of a more than handy satisfactory trial run of 23.23 seconds which had been required due to the length of time away from the track.

Raced by the Wayne Wood-managed Chasing Glory Syndicate, Jayville Slick was doing his best work at the finish when storming home to defeat Louie Lou by two lengths in 23.54 seconds – an effort that suitably impressed his trainer.

“I’d like to try and get him back up over the distance again,” Price said. “And it was good to see another distance race over 732 metres programmed today. Hopefully the support will now continue.”

Sunday’s Klaassens Contractors Free For All (732 m) was won by Fired Up Finn, who led all the way to defeat kennelmate Blue By You by 4½ lengths in 44.11 seconds after opening up a big break mid-race.

The son of Flying Fired Up and West On Cheryl found his way down to SA from Queensland in May after Lewiston trainer Clint Trengove received a phone call from the McPow Syndicate to see if he was interested in training the black dog.

“It wasn’t until they told me they reckoned the dog could run a distance that I decided to give him a go. To be fair, he did find the going a bit tough over 730 metres at Angle Park so the plan is now to bring a few down here on a regular basis for staying races.”