Following the running of eight heats of the Group 3 Cadillac Racing Mount Gambier Cup (512 metres) at Tara Raceway last Sunday, local greyhounds will be well represented in the $26,000-to-the-winner final at Tara Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Four of the heat winners are locally based – Huntsman, owned and trained at Compton by Robert Chuck, taking time honours on the day prior to being joined in the final by Oregon Caldwell, Aston Apatite and Sharp Thief.

By Koblenz out of Maddison Kaye, a 15-race winner at Angle Park, Gawler and Murray Bridge, Huntsman was purchased as a pup by Chuck from Strathalbyn breeder Deb Stuppos.

Winner of the recent Tankman Dual Distance series at Tara Raceway, Huntsman led all the way in the third heat of the cup. On the line he had 5¾ lengths to spare over Dirty Dash in a time of 29.61 seconds.

Chuck is certainly no stranger to Mount Gambier Cup success. He bred and owned Galactic Athena who defeated Slingshot Hammer in the 2019 Listed event when trained by Steve Bartholomew.

And the year prior, the Bartholomew-trained Galactic Panther, also bred and owned by Chuck, finished third behind Xtreme Caution and Lektra Stomp in the Mount Gambier Cup.

In last Sunday’s fourth heat Oregon Caldwell was perfectly drawn in box one but was stepping up in class after coming off a time-graded Thursday win three days earlier at the local track.

But the Declan Williams owned son of Need My Moneynow and La La Oregon who is trained at Moorak by Jason Newman, was never headed when defeating Piccolo Bale by 1½ lengths in a personal best time of 29.74 seconds.

Newman, also, is no stranger to cup success having won the 2022 Group 3 Mount Gambier Cup with Departure Gate. He narrowly defeated Weblec Ranger who three weeks prior had won the Murray Bridge Cup and was chasing a $10,000 bonus for winning both cups.

And last year the Newman-trained Purified finished unplaced in the cup final behind Chapel Road.

Allendale East trainer David Peckham is still trying to emulate his father Allen who trained Argyle Sally, winner of the 1994 Mount Gambier Cup out at Glenburnie. Mind you he went pretty close in 2015 when Bourne Again narrowly went down to Lots Of Yap.

Lining up from box eight in heat five of the cup, the Peckham-trained $20 chance Aston Apatite, a daughter of Fernando Bale and Aston Crystal, made it three successive wins when leading all the way and defeating Dash Of Whisky by 2½ lengths in 29.86 seconds.

Penola trainer Stuart Sharam’s involvement in greyhound racing goes back to the Glenburnie days. But Sharp Thief’s head win over Divine Nature in 30.07 seconds gave him his first Mount Gambier Cup finalist.

According to Sharam, it was only by pure chance that the white and blue daughter of Fernando Bale and Millett ended up in his kennels.

“She had found her way to Adelaide but shortly after the city kennel had been looking to move her on and contacted Tracie Price to see if he was interested in training her,” he said.

“Tracie asked me if I would be interested having a go with her. So after consultation with my wife Pat and son Liam we decided to take on the training of her for Mildura harness racing steward Wayne Smith.”

Slowly away from box two, Sharp Thief railed through down the back to find the front and then held out Divine Nature – trained by Matt Lanigan and owned locally by the Bartholomew family – to win by a head in 30.07 seconds.

“She’s won five races for us at Mount Gambier and Horsham. And on top of that, we now have a cup finalist,” Sharam said.

Adding plenty of interest to the cup will be the box six runner Darcy Dakota who goes into the final as a winner of 22 races and close to $70,000 in prize money for Parafield Gardens trainer Kerry Stagg and owners Nick Farley, Colin and Lyn Simes and Brian Stewart.

But this year’s Murray Bridge Cup winner also goes into the Mount Gambier Cup final with a $10,000 bonus up for grabs for connections if he can win both cups.

“He probably hasn’t drawn too badly given that he’s not a great box dog but does possess great field sense and is brilliant up to 450 metres as he showed today,” said Stagg, who also bred the son of Shima Shine and Dakota Roxy.

Long-time Warrnambool trainer Colin Kelly will be hoping for another cup to add to his collection when Miss Mary Jo, who is raced by the Geoff Kenna managed Big Dreams Syndicate, goes around on Sunday from box three.

Settling midfield early from box two in heat six, the daughter of Tommy Shelby and Ivy Wren found the front down the back before running out a five length winner over Compton Copy in 29.94 seconds.

“She’s been with us since she was 15 months old,” Kelly said. “At 17 months of age she broke in with the report being that she was city class. She’s now a nine-race winner and it would be nice to be able to win a cup with her.”

It was back in 1983 that Kelly achieved great success with Lady Lilly, winner of the Melbourne Cup as well as the Ballarat Cup and Warrnambool Cup.

Aston Gozo, who topped the bidding at last Friday night’s Calcutta, kicked off the heats in fine style when leading all the way from box two and defeating Lone Rooster by six lengths in 29.62 seconds.

The daughter of Aston Dee Bee and Aston Gwen is trained at Ripplebrook by Robert Pallotta who has been involved with greyhounds for 40 years but training for only the past four.

“We picked her up after she had failed to fire at her first two starts,” he said. “She’s now won 13 races and I really have to thank my partner Jacqui Berry for all the work she puts in with the dogs.”

At the completion of the eight heats, Greyhound Racing SA Racing Manager Shaun Mathieson conducted the all-important box draw for the Cadillac Racing Mount Gambier Cup.

In turn, nominated representatives for each finalist chose a replica cup, numbered on the base from one to eight to determine the box their greyhound would be jumping from in the final.

And when Jacqui returned to the table after drawing box two for Aston Gozo, the trainer leaned across and gently kissed his partner on the lips – obviously happy with the box draw.

Interestingly, the four “away” greyhounds to make the cup final all had a look at the Tara Raceway track in some shape or form prior to last Sunday’s heats.

Got The Cash, a son of Tommy Shelby and Frank’s Girl, and trained by Matt Lanigan for Paul McDowall, had raced at the track 10 days earlier. That had been prior to defeating Wind Whiskers by a length in the second heat in 29.95 seconds after finding the front down the back.

Aston Gozo had been across and trialled as had Darcy Dakota while Miss Mary Jo had run and won at the previous Sunday meeting.

2025 Cadillac Racing Mount Gambier Cup final, Sunday, April 6, Tara Raceway: 1 Aston Apatite (trainer David Peckham), 2 Aston Gozo (Robert Pallotta), 3 Miss Mary Jo (Colin Kelly), 4 Huntsman (Robert Chuck), 5 Sharp Thief (Stuart Sharam), 6 Darcy Dakota (Kerry Stagg), 7 Oregon Caldwell (Jason Newman), 8 Got The Cash (Matt Lanigan). Reserves: Piccolo Bale (Jack Trengove), Orli Bale (Correy Grenfell).