Cape Bridgewater-based Scott Blacksell, another trainer to be hit by border restrictions for much of the year, made a successful return to Tara Raceway last Thursday.
He was back at the Mount Gambier track with Worms Are Biting – the only greyhound he currently has racing – for the first time since February 4 when the son of Worm Burner x Maximum Bella had run second to Chanko Girl.
Lining up from box seven in the Progreyhoundtips.com.au Stake (400 metres), the black dog led all the way to defeat Johnny Deeds by three-quarters of a length in a personal best time of 23.35 seconds.
The win was the first for Worms Are Biting, purchased as a pup from local breeder David Peckham, since February 1 at Warrnambool where he’s done most of his racing this year at the club’s ranked Monday meetings.
But with the dog recently struggling to gain a start at Warrnambool on either a Monday or Thursday, the relaxation of border restrictions couldn’t have come at a better time as far as Blacksell was concerned.
“He hadn’t been able to gain a start for several weeks so when we were able to get back to Mount Gambier again I figured it made sense to race him over 400 metres rather than trial because he had had plenty of galloping at home.
“He’s a bit hit or miss at the start so I thought if he jumped he would be hard to beat. And when he came out running I was pretty confident that they wouldn’t catch him.”