Terang trainer Mark Roberts was the first to admit that he had been a little disappointed with Secretly Slick’s effort in last Thursday’s Trackside Meats Stake (400 metres) at Tara Raceway’s time-graded meeting.
“She had shown plenty of early pace from out in box eight but when the crunch came turning for home she had appeared to be found wanting and had died on her run in the race won by kennelmate Concrete Comedy in a time of 23.23 seconds.

“So I gave her some extra galloping after Thursday’s run in the lead-up to Sunday’s Todd’s Photographics Stake (400 m) to see if it would make any difference.”
And $12 chance, Secretly Slick, after settling in second spot from box eight, finished too strongly for Hot Cadillac when winning by 1¼ lengths in 23.75 seconds.
A red fawn bitch by Zipping Garth, Secretly Slick is out of Marj Petal, a winner of six races at Richmond, Maitland and Taree.
“Back in April she had been advertised for sale for $2500 after winning a maiden at Maitland in NSW. As it happened, Stu James, a long-time friend of mine and these days a miner in WA, had been looking for a greyhound to race so we settled on Secretly Slick,” Roberts said.
“She’s now won five races for us at Mount Gambier and has turned out to be a handy sort of purchase.”
And Abby Doll, a daughter of Fernando Bale and the unraced Subzero Doll, appeared to be all the better for a run at Tara Raceway the previous week when returning with Ballarat trainer Trent Blacker for Sunday’s Metal Worx Maiden Stake (400 m).

The brindle bitch, who joined Blacker’s kennels four months after breaking-in, never looked in any danger of defeat when quickly taking up the running from box eight before going away to a 6½ length win in 23.48 seconds.
“To be honest, I thought she seemed a bit lost last week when having her first look at the track and then just being beaten. But she certainly looked a better dog today when bringing up her first win at start number eight,” Blacker said.
Abby Doll was the second leg of a double for NSW owner Adam Powell after Redeem A Prize was successful in the Bartholomew Pick 6 Mixed Stake (600 m) for Two Wells trainer Jack Trengove.
Redeem A Prize, a daughter of My Redeemer and Spare Cash, never looked in any danger of defeat when leading all the way and defeating Myola Queen by 7¼ lengths in 35.43 seconds.
Meanwhile, this Sunday sees the running of the South-East Hoteliers Day at Tara Raceway with the South Eastern Hotel, Federal Hotel, RSL Mt Gambier, Tantanoola (Tiger) Hotel, Western Tavern, Dartmoor Hotel, Commercial Hotel and the Pines Hotel Tarpeena being represented in the Licensed Victuallers Challenge over 512 metres.