It had been more than 25 years since Stuey Sharam boxed a dog at Tara Raceway. In fact, his last success at the Lake Terrace East track had been back on March 31, 1997.

And that came in the form of a double with Lightning Sal and Racin’ Razzy, both over 512 metres in 31.06 seconds and 30.81 seconds respectively.

Incidentally, Lightning Sal, a daughter of Golden Mike and Malibu Fay, had been bred locally by Darren Guthridge who once again will be fielding at next month’s Mount Gambier Cup at Tara Raceway.

Soon after, Sharam hung up the collar and lead – family and employment in the Coonawarra taking priority.

But in more recent times the occasional visit to a race meeting at Tara Raceway had rekindled his interest in greyhound racing.

“I couldn’t believe how much things had changed here,” he said. “Terrific prizemoney, free entry, trainers’ appearance money, no nomination fees and even a free race program.”

But for Sharam to get back into the game he would be required to renew his trainer’s licence – long since relinquished. And these days aspiring trainers are required to jump through a few more hoops.

Come last Sunday at Tara Raceway and Sharam, a Coonawarra vineyard manager and would-be greyhound trainer, handled runners for trainers Noel Perry and Tracie Price – under the watchful eye of the stewards.

“I reckon it all went pretty well,” he said, speaking after the last race. “I’ve already got my kennels built and I’m now looking forward to again training a couple of my own dogs.”

At the track with Sharam – whose involvement in greyhound racing actually began out at Glenburnie – were his wife Pat and 12-year-old son Liam. All will be welcome additions to the Tara Raceway team.