Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Tandiki, Perseverance and Rocketline all turned in top efforts last week at Tara Raceway to qualify for Thursday’s Anniversary Cup final (512 metres) but according to Mount Gambier greyhound owner Michael Robinson the box draw certainly hasn’t done the trio too many favours.
“The fact that Tandiki, a noted wide runner, has drawn box five is probably going to make it pretty tough for Perseverance and Rocketline who will jump from boxes six and seven respectively,” he said.
“We really needed Tandiki to have drawn on the outside of the other two because she does use plenty of the track. It’s still nice, though, to go into an Anniversary Cup final with three runners.”
Tandiki and Rocketline are raced by him in partnership with fellow local owner Willie Vossen and trained at Compton by Tracie Price while Perseverance is raced outright by Robinson and trained at Glencoe by Dean Fennell.
With five finalists, Price does look to hold a strong hand with perhaps Spring Cuervo and Charming Charlie his best chances in what will be the 36th running of the event – first conducted in 1985 when won by the Hazel Lane trained Kenzel Lad.
Price ran a close second with Who’s Doing What to Amadeus Strikes in the 2014 Anniversary Cup, the blue bitch at the end of the year then defeating Bourne Again in the Christmas Cup (512 m).
And it’s now history how, three months later, Who’s Doing What won a heat of the Mount Gambier Cup in sizzling time, drew box one in the final but was then scratched after coming in season.
It’s also now history how Ben Boers’ reserve Lots Of Yap gained a start and won the 2015 Mount Gambier Cup with Bourne Again once again running second.
Thursday’s opening event, the John Reid Memorial Maiden (512 m), was first run in 2005 when won by Robert Halliday’s Itza Bee and continues to be supported by members of the Reid family.
John Reid, who died in 2004, was a greyhound trainer and a dedicated club man. In 2001 he had been awarded life membership of the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club.
Chasing their second Reid Memorial win will be David Peckham (Dressed Up, Aston Hayato), who was successful in 2006 with Bourne Destiny, and Price (Compton Suzy) in 2015 with My Pal Houston.
Saint Caitlin, recently transferred by Koroit owner-trainer Peter Byrne to Fennell’s kennels, looks one of the hardest to beat in today’s memorial after a first-up second over 512 metres at Tara Raceway last week.
By Mepunga Blaze out of Saint Jane – a 2015 Newman McDonnell Memorial heat winner at Tara Raceway – Saint Caitlin was having her first race start last week and finished the race off well when running second.
Portland trainer Nicole Stanley, who last year ran the trifecta in the Eric Lewis Memorial (732 m) with Candy Chimes, Ethics and Night Owl, has transferred Close Your Eyes into Glenroy trainer Richard Clayfield’s kennels for today’s distance memorial.
The blue bitch looks like being hard to hold out after a 600 metres win at The Meadows last week and prior to that having run third over 725 metres at the same track.
Lewis was elected to the inaugural committee of the South East Greyhound Racing Club at a public meeting in the Mount Gambier City Hall on September 14, 1972. Between 1973 and 1975 he served as president of the club.
A devotee of distance racing, one of his best greyhounds was Kori Arc (Venetian Court x Baratina), a winner of 12 races, nine of those in Melbourne, including a brilliant 43.89 seconds at Olympic Park. Kori Arc later stood at stud in Mount Gambier at a fee of $100.
The inaugural Eric Lewis Memorial was run over 600 metres in 2014 when the Robert Britton trained Zipping Basil was successful. Subsequent winners have been Harry Aztec, Supreme Deal, Two Jobs, Aeroplane Mo and Candy Chimes.