With 11 greyhounds trialling after the final race at Tara Raceway last Sunday in readiness for this Sunday’s Trackside Pet Meats Mount Gambier Cup (512 metres) heats, it wasn’t all that surprising that there were some smart times recorded over the cup distance.

Cup contenders travelled from Adelaide and also from across the border. And they recorded times ranging from 29.27 seconds to 29.76 seconds while two dogs ran 22.81 seconds and 23.12 seconds over 400 metres.

But one visiting Victorian trainer in Paul Galea, who has the Group 3 $50,000 cup firmly in his sights, opted to bypass the trials and run his 12-race winner Galento in the Ontrack Insider Stake (512 m) for grade five greyhounds.

Lining up at the Mount Gambier track for the first time, the black dog never looked in danger of defeat when leading all the way from box four and defeating Compton Gypsy by 6¼ lengths in 29.29 seconds.

“As a lead-in to the Mount Gambier Cup I had been keen, not only for him to have a look at the track, but also to give him every chance by running him here under race conditions,” Galea said.

Coming into the race on the back of a best of night 29.38 seconds 515 metres win at Sandown Park earlier in the month, Galento is a son of Fernando Bale and Black Robin – a successful line that goes back to 2006 and a mating of Tail Lee with Kiowa Sweet Trey.

Black Robin , a daughter of Aston Dee Bee and Got The Attitude, is a litter sister to Handsome Rhino who won a heat of the 2022 Easter Egg at Wentworth Park.

And part-owner Frank Spiteri, who grew up with Galea and was also at Tara Raceway last Sunday, will be at Wentworth Park next weekend for the Easter Egg with Ross The Boss, a winner of 11 races and more than $78,000 in prize money.

Galento’s kennel name is Tony while his litter brother, Ross The Boss is named after Josh Ross, a two-time winner of the Stawell Gift. And Galea was keen to relate the story of how Galento’s kennel name came about.

“I had read quite a bit about this overweight American heavyweight boxer Tony Galento who had fought during the 1930s and 1940s. Apparently he had been described in many different ways but the one I liked best was his description as ‘a beer barrel that walks like a man’.

“Anyway, when the Fernando Bale x Black Robin litter was whelped back in August 2023, the first thing I thought of was Tony Galento when this black pup started waddling around and looking anything but a future racing machine.

“So we called him Tony and then had always hoped that we would be able to get Galento as his racing name,” he said.

And it has to be said he looked anything but “a beer barrel that walks like a man” when going around Tara Raceway last Sunday in the fastest 512 metre time of the year.

Meanwhile, this time last year Penola trainer Stuart Sharam was preparing Sharp Thief, a daughter of Fernando Bale and Millett, for the Mount Gambier Cup.

As it turned out, Sharp Thief scored something of a surprise win in her heat and then ran the race of her life in the Group 3 final the following week when finishing a 1¾ length second to Aston Gozo.

Fast forward 12 months and Sharam and his wife Pat and son Liam are now flat out looking after Sharp Thief’s March 12 whelped litter of four dogs and three bitches by Feral Franky.

They’re also doing pretty well with the Peter Carter owned Poke Salad Annie, the daughter of Bernardo and Reinforcements having now won two of her only three starts at Tara Raceway over 305 metres.

Lining up in last Sunday’s Commercial Hotel Mixed Stake, Poke Salad Annie never looked like being beaten when scoring a 9¼ length win over Ollie Limes in a smart 17.39 seconds.

While there were only eight races on the card, this didn’t stop leading trainer Tracie Price from winning five of them with Dolly’s My Mum, Compton Shelly, Compton To Avoid, Trentino and Capybara.

And on a day of fast times – both race and trial – local Mount Gambier Cup hope Capybara, a daughter of Fernando Bale and Nangar Gold, didn’t lose too many friends when successful in the Gordon Refrigeration Mixed Stake (512 m).

Third early, the brindle bitch railed through to take the lead on the home turn before running out a three length winner over Statue Of Time and Honey Zen in 29.54 seconds.