There’s no way that Jarrad Williams, one of 21 contestants in the current charity-driven Tara Tipsters competition conducted at the twice-weekly greyhound meetings at Tara Raceway, will be holding back after last Thursday’s Mount Gambier 10-race program.
No, he will continue to remind the 20 other tipsters that, in the four year history of the Tara Tipsters, last week he became the first contestant to pick the card – in this case 10 winners for a total of 40 points.
Now, he’s taken a handy lead over competition heavyweights Tim Aloisi, Kevin Douglas and Kevin Patzel with this particular two-month series throwing its support behind local charity Spare Ya Change 4 Kids.
Six of the winners on the day were odds-on favourites – but they still had to win. The longest-price winner was Allendale East trainer David Peckham’s $3.50 chance Stevie’s Girl in the Carlin & Gazzard TG5+W Stake (400 metres).
Come the final race, the Federal Hotel TG1-4W Stake (400 m), and Williams’ hopes were riding with the $1.60 chance Santa Barbara, raced by Nicole Stanley and Nifty Lenehan of Portland and trained by the latter.
But mid-race and $3.80 chance Aston Fiona, trained by the in-form Peckham, had opened up a handy break over the favourite. Williams breathed easier in the home straight, though, as Santa Barbara finished strongly for a three-quarter length win in 23.41 seconds.
In the race prior, the Ary Sports Bar & Bistro TG1-4W Stake (400 m), Tara Tipsters ambassador Mocambora Mia went around for Cape Bridgewater owner Scott Blacksell, who is currently recovering from another hip operation.
Trained by Peckham, the daughter of Superior Panama and leading local dam Sweet On Me led all the way from box one when defeating Just Paddy by three lengths in 23.28 seconds.
As a result of the win another $50 jumped into the Tara Tipsters charity jar.
Meanwhile, at Tara Raceway’s meeting tomorrow, a cheque will be presented to representatives of the Mount Gambier Cancer Support Group following the running of the Tara Tipster Cup (512 m).