While Todd’s Photographics Maiden Stake (305 metres) at Tara Raceway last Sunday ended up with only three runners after scratchings, the race was anything but interference-free.
But out in front and dodging the confusion was Alpaca Patches, raced by Jason Newman and his partner Melissa Freitag, and trained by the former at Moorak.
And after the race, which the black and white bitch ultimately won by 10¾ lengths over Compton Banjo in 17.97 seconds, it was a relieved Newman who led back the litter’s first winner.
“We purchased her dam, Downtown Pixie, for breeding from Queensland owner Bill Ferguson. She whelped her first litter – five bitches – to three-time track record holder Unlawful Entry in January 2020,” he said.
“I have to say, though, it was an exercise that wasn’t without its share of challenges along the way. But for all that, it was a big thrill for us last Sunday to see Alpaca Patches open the litter’s winning account.”
By Magic Sprite out of Paige Express, Downtown Pixie won three races at Townsville and Cairns before relocating to Mount Gambier where she won a further five races over 400 metres at Tara Raceway.
Relative newcomers to the training ranks, last Sunday’s win continued the successful run Newman and Freitag have enjoyed this year at the local track. Collectively, the pair has now trained 15 winners.
A last minute decision by Two Wells trainer Jack Trengove paid dividends when he nominated for last Sunday’s Mount Gambier meeting after closing time was extended. As it turned out, he ended the day with a treble – his fourth at the track since June.
Kicking off his three winners was Pretty, a daughter of Barcia Bale and Appointed, a city-winning middle-distance performer and a litter sister to 22-race winner Deliver (a winner of more than $300,000 in stakemoney).
Having her first start at the track, the Amanda Tullio owned Pretty chased Another Cadillac for much of the journey in the Progreyhoundtips.com Stake (400 m) before grabbing the leader in the shadows of the post for a head win in 23.44 seconds.
Trengove then followed up with Curiouser in the Commercial Hotel Mixed Stake (512 m), the daughter of Fernando Bale x Kapalos running down Compton Crystal to win by three-quarters of a length in 30 seconds.
Completing another big day for the former Broken Hill trainer was Up There Billy who maintained his unbeaten record at the track after winning on debut the previous week over 305 metres.
The fawn son of Barcia Bale and 10-race winner Ah Sugar Sugar looked pretty good when running out a 7¼ lengths winner over Awesome Alpaca in 23.26 seconds in the Hyland Fox Maiden/One Win Stake (400 m).
Purchased as a pup and reared in Broken Hill, Up There Billy is raced the 23-year-old Trengove in partnership with Regan Edgecumbe, president of the Broken Hill Greyhound Racing Club.
And while Up There Billy has impressed at his only two race starts, his trainer said the dog had taken a while to actually show much on the track.
“His breaking-in report was ok but I reckon we had to trial him something like 30 times before he started to show us something,” said Trengove who currently has 15 dogs in work.
Meanwhile, Midnight Daisy’s all the way win over another Trengove-trained dog in Hillbilly Road in the Greg Martlew Autos Stake (512 m) was an early birthday present for Kevin “KD” Douglas who turns 70 tomorrow.
Douglas races the daughter of Fernando Bale x Midnight News – trained at Allendale East by David Peckham – in partnership with the Nineofus Syndicate.