The highlight of last Sunday’s meeting at Tara Raceway for Moorak training team Melissa Freitag and Jason Newman, along with the Lain Beckett-managed Yeah Nah Syndicate, was undoubtedly Nitrogen Outlaw’s win in the Williams Crane Hire Open Stake (400 metres).

Having his 100th race start, the rising four-year-old son of Aston Dee Bee and Fantasy Skye celebrated the occasion with an all the way four length win over Pursuit in a time of 23.05 seconds.

He’s now won 27 races – 19 of those at Mount Gambier, Angle Park and Gawler since being purchased by the syndicate from the Inguanti family of Camperdown in September 2022.

In the previous race, the Metal Worx Stake (400 m), the Yeah Nah Syndicate and Newman – who won the 2022 Mount Gambier Cup with Departure Gate – combined again, this time for a win on debut at Tara Raceway with Come On Kilkenny.

Away fairly from box one, the son of Fernando Bale and Naughty Cazza chased kennelmate Space Cadet until off the back where he took over the running before going on to a 1¾ length win in 23.08 seconds.

The win came only two days after Come On Kilkenny had run second to Boots over 400 metres at Gawler in a heat of an SA-owned 400 metre event in a quick 22.30 seconds.

And in the final race, the Gambier Vets Stake (512 m), Purified, a daughter of Fernando Bale and Mepunga Spectre, was also making her debut at Tara Raceway for Newman.

Raced by Adelaide owner Lena Dureikina, Purified went into the grade five event having won six races at The Meadows, Sandown Park, Horsham, Geelong and Angle Park. She had also run third in last year’s Group 3 SA Oaks (530 m) at Angle Park.

However, along the way the white and black bitch had fallen foul of stewards on several occasions. As a result Newman had opted to try the blinkers on her.

Now, sometimes a blinkered muzzle works, sometimes it has little effect. In the case of Purified, though, she virtually led all the way when running out a three length winner over Saint Tommy in 29.90 seconds.

Following the abandonment of nine races at the previous Sunday meeting, the Tara Tipsters Cup was run as a grade 6 event over 512 metres.

And it was In The Bug, chasing his first win since last October when successful over 600 metres at Tara Raceway, who defied the opposition to run him down when holding out Ruby Rhode for a three-quarter length win in 29.81 seconds.

The win by the son of My Redeemer and Miss City Girl was one of three winners for leading trainer Tracie Price who had also been successful with Barra Banjo in the Exchange Printers Stake (400 m) and Compton Kelly in the Commercial Hotel Stake (400 m).

Meanwhile, the Connie Miller Memorial, for grade five greyhounds, will be run at Tara Raceway over 512 metres on Sunday, March 31.

The memorial will be a lead-in to the April 7 Cadillac Racing Mount Gambier Cup heats. Quite fitting, it could be said, given that she is still the only trainer to have won the cup on consecutive occasions – in 1987 with Durafi and the following year with Mitchell Boy.

In 1983-1984 Connie assumed the role of secretary of the South East Greyhound Racing Club which later became the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing & Coursing Club Inc. And with the exception of 1996-1997, she remained secretary until 2002-2003.