New names appeared on the winning trainers’ list at Tara Raceway last Sunday when Kurt Burger-Trudgett and Kyle Goodwin won their first races in Mount Gambier.
For Burger-Trudgett, it was his first time at the local track and his first winner came in the first race, the Greg Martlew Autos Maiden Stake (305 metres), with Leeroy Bomber, owned by the Ray Henness-managed Lindray Park Syndicate.
By Over Limit out of Every Sound – a Tara Raceway winner back in June 2014 when trained by David Peckham – Leeroy Bomber quickly put himself in the race from box five before finishing too strongly for a length win over Jack’s A Puzzle in a handy time of 17.92 seconds.
Burger-Trudgett pre-trained the black dog prior to his first start in December, Leeroy Bomber subsequently running three minor placings from his first six starts before a back leg injury kept him off the track for close to three months.
“He had trialled well recently at Geelong so with Mount Gambier now running a maiden 305 metres race or two on Sundays we decided to bring him over for his first run back,” he said.
The 27-year-old Burger-Trudgett, who has been involved in the sport for four years, trains out of Myrniong in conjunction with Mark Giddings. The pair is currently training approximately 30 greyhounds.
And on a day of quick times, Goodwin’s Night To Burn is likely to be back on Sunday for a heat of the Mount Gambier Cup after he defeated Crush Your Enemy by 6¼ lengths in the Metal Worx Stake (512 m) in a time of 29.64 seconds.
By Ando’s Mac out of Wentworth Park winner Nana’s Habit, Night To Burn is raced by the Berry Wyn Syndicate which is managed by Lorraine Goodwin – the mother and son team based in Hamilton on a five-acre property.
Bred and reared at Hamilton, the blue fawn dog has now won four races from his 18 starts after previously being successful at Geelong and Sandown Park.
Despite a couple of hang-ups along the way, which sees Night To Burn currently racing in blinkers, Goodwin said he was a fast dog and had always shown more than his fair share of ability.
Involved in greyhound racing for the past seven years, the 33-year-old Goodwin is also looking to run Off It’s Chops for Little River owner David Burnett in a heat of Sunday’s Commercial Hotel Mount Gambier Cup.
“He’s only raced a dozen or so times but has won at Sandown Park (515 m) in 29.59 seconds and at Geelong (460 m) in 26.16 seconds,” said Goodwin when referring to the son of Fernando Bale x Thanks Cheryl.
“Besides that, I was really pleased with his trial over 512 metres at Tara Raceway last Saturday.”
Ocean Grove trainer Heath McAdam returned to Tara Raceway last Sunday for the first time since December 2019 when he had been successful with Unique Quality in a heat of the Christmas Challenge (600 m).
One of the trainer’s better chances on the day looked to be Jay Bird, a daughter of Dyna Lachlan and Osaka Bale, and a winner of four races since being taken over by McAdam in May last year.
Lining up in box two in the Progreyhoundtips.com Stake (512 m), Jay Bird virtually led all the way in the grade five event, eventually holding out Rough Pearl – a minor placegetter in last year’s Anniversary and Mount Gambier Cups – to win by a neck in 29.95 seconds.