Saturday, July 27, 2019
When Landsborough couple Nathan and Kerry Jenner bundled up their three kids and three greyhounds for the 300 kilometre trip over to Mount Gambier for last week’s Sunday meeting at Tara Raceway they would have been hoping for better luck than that experienced earlier this year with Tee Tee at the local track.
All told, Tee Tee raced at Tara Raceway on seven occasions for Nathan Jenner, running five placings from seven starts but still a maiden when she relocated to Traralgon in April this year, the couple recalling that their last Mount Gambier winner had been Elgrande Rebel in December 2017.
Hopes were high in the first race, the Fairthorne Forestry Stake (400 metres), with Blue Phantom having gone down narrowly over 400 metres at Geelong five nights earlier and Jenner looking to bring up his first win with the April 2017 whelping.
Raced by Melbourne owner Bryan Carman – a very caring greyhound man, according to Jenner – Blue Phantom kicked the day off in fine style, leading all the way from box seven for a 7¼ length win in a smart 23.17 seconds.
The winner, in the Jenner kennels since April, is by Barcia Bale out of Flamin’ Go, a winner of 15 races and $36,000 in stakemoney – the litter also including School Report and Tennessee Rain, Tara Raceway winners when trained by Nicole Stanley.
Fast forward to race 12, the Gordon Refrigeration Stake (400 m), and the Jenner kids were on a roll, by now expecting another forward showing from the kennel in the form of Ninetymile Donny, drawn in box one but first-up for a couple of months.
Also owned by Carman, the 3½-year-old black dog certainly lacks for nothing when it comes to breeding, being by Collision out of Athletica who is a member of the outstanding Mogambo x Off Springer litter that includes Sweet It Is (23 wins and $945,000 in stakemoney).
Jenner, who has had Ninetymile Donny in the kennels since February, was successful with him in March at Horsham but the dog’s chronic health issues have limited his number of starts to only four more since then.
However, the $14 chance looked to be on his game when quickly finding the front in the final race and then defying another roughie in Big Rough to run him down. Mind you, in the end Ninetymile Donny cut it pretty fine, hanging on to win by a half head in 23.49 seconds.
The double was the trainer’s first in a 2½-year involvement with greyhounds. But this was a double for the whole family – the Jenner kids quickly on to the track to greet Donny when he returned after his win.
And with photographer Todd Nicholson’s encouragement, quick to give the two-finger salute, signifying the two winners for Nathan, Kerry, Marcos, Zoe and Ebony in what had been a real family fun day.