Tylden greyhound trainer Dale Bunn was back at Tara Raceway last Thursday, chasing his first winner at the track since September when Calzaghe had been successful.
And Bunn had certainly put in the hard yards when it came to the Reg Boyce owned Bright Moon – a daughter of Blue Moon Rising and Smooth Claudia, an 11-race winner over predominantly middle distances in NSW and Queensland.
“After Bright Moon had raced on three occasions at Traralgon I received a phone call from Reg who is based at Korumburra. She’d suffered an injury at her last start and he was wondering if I could kennel her for a while.
“That was back in May. Then she came in season so it wasn’t until December that I was able to get her back on the track.
“As it was, due to her length of time off the track she had been required to run a satisfactory trial. Actually, leading up to last week’s race we made three 12-hour round trips to Mount Gambier to trial Bright Moon.
“I suppose you could say I’m a great believer in doing your due diligence and giving yourself a chance,” Bunn said.
And give himself a chance he certainly did with the brindle bitch leading all the way in the Cadillac Racing Maiden Stake (305 metres) for a six length win over Michael Niele’s Majestic Max in the tidy time of 17.78 seconds.
In the Hyland Fox Maiden Stake (305 m), Our Damiro opened her winning account at start number four for Moorak trainer Melissa Freitag when leading all the way and defeating another Niele-trained greyhound in Here For Glory by 5¼ lengths in 17.80 seconds.
The win was the start of a big day for Freitag who that night was also successful at Angle Park with Send It Blue over 530 metres.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s Tara Raceway meeting took on a real picnic atmosphere with a considerable number of the Radley family – young and old – on course for what was an enjoyable Christmas get together.
In fact, Tara Raceway regulars at the weekly Thursday time-graded greyhound meetings claimed it had been a long time since a crowd of that size had last been on course.
And after Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club president Noel Perry was successful with Chief Pow Wow in the Gordon Refrigeration Stake (512 m) it was a case of the Radleys coming from everywhere to join the Chief on track.
While on the subject of family days at Tara Raceway, the Family Fun in the Sun Day will be held on Sunday, January 21.
The free entry Family Fun Day was first conducted last year and was a tremendous success with its free kids’ entertainment which included bouncy castle, face painting and ice creams. Also on track will be live music, barbecue, bar, TAB facilities and canteen.
From a racing point of view, the highlight of the day will be the final of the Summer Classic. First run in 2015, this age-restricted event over 512 metres will once again carry prize money of $10,000.
