February 2025 whelping Mocambora Jack brought up the first winner for the Hooked On Scotch x Mocambora Izza litter at last Thursday’s Mount Gambier time-graded meeting.

The white and blue dog was having only his second race start at Tara Raceway on the back of a third placing in a heat of the previous Sunday’s John Reid Memorial Maiden/One Win feature (305 m). And he led all the way from box eight when defeating Cinta’s Gold by two lengths in 17.93 seconds.

By My Redeemer out of Raz’s Girl, Mocambora Izza won 16 races at Tara Raceway and one at Warrnambool prior to whelping the litter out at David Peckham’s Allendale East kennels.

Scott Blacksell, who is based at Cape Bridgewater, retained four of the litter – subsequently broken-in at Koroit by Peter Byrne.

“Our pups have been a bit of a mixed bag,” Blacksell said. “And after putting in quite a bit of time with our four on trial mornings at Tara Raceway, Mocambora Jack is the one who has pleased us most when running third on debut prior to winning last week.”

And in case anyone is wondering about the Mocambora tag attached to Blacksell’s dogs, it is a rural locality and geographic area located south of Casterton which also encompasses private farming land.

Mortlake owner-trainer Shaun Baulch, back among the local winners for the first time in while a couple of weeks ago with Hit Reset, followed up again with Napier Bale in the Trackside Pet Meats TG5+W Stake (400 m).

Lining up for start number 153, the 5½-year-old son of Dyna Villa and Dyna Winter brought up win number 22 when finishing strongly and defeating early leader Compton Bowie by a length in 23.28 seconds.

Enjoying another successful day last week at Tara Raceway were Meningie-based Tim Richards and Tanya Bialek whose day kicked off with a win by Ritza Wotton in the Federal Hotel TG5+W Stake (512 m).

Trained by Richards and owned by Bialek and Millicent-based Mark Dwyer, Ritza Wotton landed his second consecutive 512 metre win in as many weeks when leading all the way from box one and defeating a fast finishing Oregon Caldwell by a half-length in 29.84 seconds.

Then, in the Greg Martlew Autos TG5+W Stake (305 m), the Richards owned and trained Jazzy Boo led all the way from box two, holding on for a head win over Tracie Price’s Compton Shelly in a time of 17.78 seconds.

But for Price it was still a pretty good day after Compton Stella, Compton Zirconia, Compton Copy and Compton Ava were successful for the Compton-based trainer.

Compton Stella quickly found the front from box four in the Greyhoundtips.com TG5+W Stake (305 m) before running out a 5¾ length winner over Cadillac Landau in 17.64 seconds.

In the following race, the Metal Worx TG1-4W Stake (400 m), Compton Zirconia also quickly found the front from box eight when defeating Nulla Danny Boy by 2½ lengths in 23.58 seconds.

And for Compton Copy it was win number 19 after she led all the way from box four in the Williams Crane Hire Stake (400 m). Scoring by five lengths, she defeated Ivory Pygmy by five lengths in a best of day 23.06 seconds.

Wrapping up yet another successful day for the leading trainer was Compton Ava who virtually led all the way from box one in the Klaassens Contractors TG1-4W Stake (305 m). On the line she had 3½ lengths to spare over litter brother Compton Baker in a personal best 17.39 seconds.

But, as it turned out, Price’s day wasn’t over just yet.

With SA racing rules requiring greyhounds to complete a satisfactory trial and obtain a veterinary certificate after having been off the track for 60 or more days, Price had opted to race two of his dogs that were in that category at Warrnambool later that night.

“The dogs in question were Canya Nameless and Huntsman,” he said. “They had both been out for 60-odd days but were certainly ready to race.

“Canya Nameless had been off the scene after sustaining a minor injury while Huntsman’s time out had been as a result of a tail injury which necessitated about three inches being of his tail being removed.

“It’s always pretty tough over at Warrnambool on a Thursday night. Anyway, where possible, a race is always better than a trial so I thought it was probably worth having a crack.”

And it certainly was worth having a crack after both dogs raced on the pace and both won their respective 390 metre races to give Price six winners for the day.