Ron Rogers, the Bendigo-based greyhound trainer come football commentator, made the right call last Thursday when nominating Northern Regie for Mount Gambier’s time-graded meeting at Tara Raceway.
And it was even better when the black dog drew box eight in the Gambier Vets TG5+W Stake (400 metres). Matching motors early with She’s Fired Up, Northern Regie finished strongly in the home straight for a one length win over Victa Jayde in 23.61 seconds.
“He’d run third to Katoni the last time I was over here about 12 months ago so I thought it was probably about time I brought him back for another look,” said Rogers after training his first Tara Raceway winner.
“Northern Regie’s been a handy pick up, having now won five races since I purchased him. Also, he’s pretty honest, is always thereabouts in his races and loves box eight.”
By Hooksy, he’s out of Cinnamon Rose who raced on 100 occasions for 20 wins. Interestingly, for a short period in 2018 she was trained at Glenroy by Richard Clayfield who won three races in succession with Cinnamon Rose at Tara Raceway.
Twelve months ago, Clayfield was also training Katoni. Current trainer is Aroha Hemingway and the son of Magic Sprite was successful last Thursday in the Winning Post SuppliesTG5+W (400 m) when defeating Acoustic Flash in 23.09 seconds.
The 58-year-old Rogers, involved with greyhounds since he was 18, has also enjoyed recent success with the well-bred Sydney Show, a son of Fernando Bale and Super Tora.
“He’s been going ok and recently won at Shepparton and Horsham,” he said. “And for something different, he contested a coursing stake at Longwood last weekend.”
A couple of greyhounds that Rogers still has fond memories of are Stormswift and Runaway Ralfy.
“Stormswift won at Olympic Park, Bendigo and Wangaratta. She also ran second in a Vic Breeders final over 511 metres in August 1990. That final actually contributed to more than half of her overall prizemoney.
“And Runaway Ralfy raced on 106 occasions for 21 wins at Shepparton, Healesville, Horsham, Wagga, Ballarat, Temora, Warrnambool and Geelong.”
Rogers is also one of the National Indigenous Radio Service (NIRS) commentators who call the AFL live from a tiny booth to some of the most remote communities in outback Australia.
He has 25 years under his belt of calling AFL. And not only does he commentate, he sets up the microphones and equipment before each game to broadcast on the AFL website and to NIRS affiliated radio stations around the country.
Meanwhile, Mount Gambier 732 metre record holder Zipping Neutron established another track record last Friday night in the Newcastle Knights Stake (715 m) at The Gardens in NSW.
Trained at Munno Para by Tim Aloisi, Zipping Neutron led all the way for a 7¾ length win over Skinny Juan in 41.34 seconds.
However, the record stood for only 30-odd minutes after Valpolicella ran a time of 41.23 when a sensational winner of the $500,000 “715” final.
And running third in the “715” was Canya Amy, part-owned by Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club sponsor Leigh Schreier of Progreyhoundtips.com.