The return to Tara Raceway late last year of Dunolly training team Richard Boehm and Sandra Elmes had been their first time back in Mount Gambier with greyhounds since the pre-Covid days.
Back then they had enjoyed plenty of success at the time-graded meetings. And it hasn’t taken them long to pick up from where they left off almost three years ago when Petey Baqui had been successful over 400 metres.
First it was Chasing Her Tail who virtually led all the way from box eight in the Progreyhoundtips.com Maiden Stake (305 metres) when defeating Menari Stenosis by a length in 18.30 seconds at the December 29 meeting.
By Walk Hard, the sire of former Mount Gambier 512 metre record holder Lektra Stomp, Chasing Her Tail is out of the first litter of Avatar Minty who Boehm described as being very fast early.
“Yes, she possessed plenty of early pace when winning 18 races and something like $27,000 in prize money. And she’s very well bred, being by the US sire KC And All out of maiden bitch Sabroni Mint, a daughter of Miss Elly Mint (44 wins for almost $200,000 in prize money),” he said.
“Interestingly, our first winner at Tara Raceway – in July 2018 – was a dog called Avatar Blaze, a litter brother to Avatar Minty.”
Boehm also related how things hadn’t been all plain sailing when it came to Chasing Her Tail whose first win was at her 12th start and on the back of 11 unplaced runs.
“Her biggest problem is that she’s always been a ‘tail wagger’ which ultimately resulted in the tail becoming infected and part of it being removed. The only problem then was that she wouldn’t leave the bandage on and this ended in her having no tail at all.”
The Dunolly team was back again last Thursday and with four runners – three out of Avatar Minty and the fourth a daughter of litter sister Avatar Sparkle – in the Klaassens Contractors Stake, looked to hold a strong hand in the maiden event over 305 metres.
And it was Spellman, by American Monster out of Avatar Minty’s second litter, who overcame an ordinary start from box eight before running away to a 5¾ length win over litter brother Umbilical Man with a further half-length back to Chasing Barbie, a daughter of Avatar Sparkle.