Moorak trainer Jason Newman struck a blow for the locals today when his $18 chance Departure Gate won the 42nd running of the Mount Gambier Cup (512 metres), sponsored this year by Carlin & Gazzard MG.
Contesting the first Group 3 event to be run at Tara Raceway, Departure Gate, together with fellow locals Whole Way and Midnight Blast, took on the might of the powerful Victorian-based foursome – Blazing Times, Keep It Blue, Keep It Black and Weblec Ranger – all trained by Angela Langton.
But it was Departure Gate who quickly found the front from box six and from then on was never headed. He eventually held out last month’s Murray Bridge Cup winner Weblec Ranger to win by a head in 29.42 seconds, the time equalling Sunset Milo’s race record established in 2020.
Weblec Ranger’s head defeat cost Langton a $10,000 bonus, awarded by Greyhound Racing SA to any trainer winning both the Murray Bridge and Mount Gambier Cups with the same greyhound.
And many long-time greyhound racing followers declared the 2022 Carlin & Gazzard MG Mount Gambier Cup meeting as one of the best ever run at the Lake Terrace East venue.
“I haven’t missed too many Mount Gambier Cups over the years and I reckon today’s was probably the best one I’ve ever attended,” said Michael Robinson, a former local greyhound chief steward and still a regular at the twice-weekly Tara Raceway meetings.
Once again, GRSA, the sport’s controlling body, made its presence felt with Grantley Stevens (chairman), Gavin Bosch (acting CEO), Adrian Battiston and David Lewis (directors) and Matt Watson and Tim Stoeckel of marketing all in attendance.
“We were particularly keen to see how the club’s first Group 3 event went off,” Stevens said. “And we were absolutely delighted with the whole day. The support it received was tremendous and certainly a credit to the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club.”
It was an emotional Newman who returned to the recently-built new look presentation dais with Departure Gate, a son of Fernando Bale x Tarks Nemesis who ironically had been bred by Langton.
“I can’t believe it, I’ve just won the cup,” he said. “He had to drive hard to hold the lead and that’s what he did!”
Newman kicked the day off with a win in the first race, the Exchange Printers Maiden Stake (305 m), with Velocity Cleo in 17.80 seconds. Then, following the cup win, Ajmer was successful in the Trackside Meats Stake (400 m) in 23.11 seconds.
And just when the day surely couldn’t get any better, partner Melissa Freitag won the second-last race, the Gordon Refrigeration Stake (512 m), with Awesome Alpaca in 30.61 seconds.
