The ladies of the Visually Impaired Club of Mount Gambier & Districts were welcome visitors at Tara Raceway last Sunday.

Their visit had been to pick up a donation from the Tara Tipsters – a group of dedicated local greyhound racing supporters who give twice a week to a charity jar on the pretext of a tipping competition.

But really all it’s about is bragging rights for the Tipsters with the real winners being the numerous local charities who have benefited from their continuing generosity.

And the ladies of the Visually Impaired Club of Mount Gambier & Districts are always most appreciative of the support they receive from the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club and its members.

Making the presentation to the Visually Impaired Club ladies was Annette Smith, 5GTR FM radio station manager. She’s also joined the Tara Tipsters competition but, it has to be said, is still finding her way.

“It’s my first time out here and it really is good to be on track and be able to watch my selections actually racing,” she said. “Mind you, it doesn’t seem to make them run any faster.”

Run in conjunction with the presentation was the Tara Tipsters Grade 6 Stake (512 m) which also carried to the winning trainer a leather collar and lead, hand-crafted by fellow Tara Tipster Andrew Earl.

As far as the race was concerned, Tony Hinrichsen’s Captain Rita made a real one-act affair of the race when virtually leading all the way for a seven length win over Littlefoot who is trained by Tara Tipster Elysia Bartholomew.

By Fernando Bale out of Another Grey, Captain Rita was recently advertised for sale on the on-line site Greyhound Data.

“It was by pure chance that I actually saw the advertisement on Data because I hadn’t been on the site in quite some time. Anyway, I was able to pick up Captain Rita and her sister Captain Demi for a very reasonable price,” said the Langhorne Creek-based Hinrichsen.