For 75-year-old Bill Donlon, a hobby trainer with 18 greyhounds on 10 acres at Burnbank in Victoria’s Pyrenees, his involvement in the sport goes back some 30 years.
In fact, many years ago he had raced at the old Glenburnie track although last Thursday was the first time he had made the four-hour trip to the Lake Terrace East venue, operational since 1997.
“I’d seen Mount Gambier greyhound racing on Sky and thought it looked good. So I suggested to my wife Sheila and training partner Paul Radstock, who lives down the road from us, that maybe we should give the track a try,” Donlon said.
“Also, with most of our dogs being better suited to the shorter distances, we were hoping Tara Raceway’s programming of short course, along with middle-distance racing, might work in our favour.”
And Donlon was off to a flying start in the first race, the Produce Store Maiden Stake (305 metres). His wife’s Operatic Blue, who had run five minor placings in 19 starts, led all the way from box one to defeat Bungaloo Chelsea by a neck in 18.01 seconds.
By Raw Ability, who won the 2017 Adelaide Cup, Operatic Blue is out of Ruby Rads, a winner of nine races on Victorian provincial tracks when initially trained by Donlon and later by Radstock.
Lining up in race six, the Bartholomew Pick 6 Stake (400 m), were Operatic Blue’s litter brothers Twelve Carat and Knight’s Cross, both owned by Sheila Donlon and trained by Radstock.
Twelve Carat, who went into the race as favourite on the back of some handy Ballarat form, quickly found the front while Knight’s Cross did the chasing. The pair virtually then had the race to themselves with the former recording close to a length win in a tidy 23.26 seconds.
Radstock, a 55-year-old floor sander by trade, first became interested in greyhounds seven years ago after becoming associated with Bill Donlon through lawn bowls.
And then it was Sheila’s turn to train a winner – with Inside Out in the Commercial Hotel Stake (400 m).
Chasing her first win since March, the white and black daughter of Aussie Infrared and Sally Gardens went straight to the front from box two and never looked like losing. On the line she had 5¾ lengths to spare over Shell City in 23.33 seconds.
Sally Gardens, a winner of 14 races and $51,000 in stakemoney, is rated by the Donlons as the best greyhound they have been associated with.
Meanwhile, an interesting pup by the name of Compton Robbie made his debut in the Produce Store Maiden Stake (305 m).
Owned and trained at Compton by Tracie Price, the April 2021 whelping is by Glen Gallon out Lots Of Yap, winner of the 2015 Mount Gambier Cup for Ben Boers. In fact, the mating to Glen Gallon came about through a straw which had been donated by Tony Brett as part of the cup prize.
And while the 36 kilogram black dog, after only a moderate start from box seven, looked pretty green in running he did draw attention to himself with a barnstorming finish which saw him go down by only a nostril to Operatic Blue.
Taking particular notice of Compton Robbie was Portland trainer Robert Halliday. In fact, the run was impressive enough for him to subsequently make an offer for the youngster which Price duly accepted.
Later in the day, in the Metal Worx Stake (512 m), Price lined up with the Lyn Smith-owned Deceleration who was having his first start at Tara Raceway since winning a maiden over 460 metres at Warragul in July.
By My Redeemer out of Fabregal, the blue dog overcame a slow start from box four before finding the front going out of the first turn and eventually running out a 2¼ length win over Sheila Donlon’s Lap To Far in 30.42 seconds.
Fabregal won the 2017 Mount Gambier Cup when trained by Robyn Mackeller in Adelaide. She then joined Smith’s kennels in Nambrok before finishing with 46 wins and more than $214,000 in stakemoney.
