Mount Gambier Week in Review
Sometimes you never know where a good one’s coming from
It was in 2008 that Nathan Wilson and his wife Kerri, along with his sister Melissa and her husband Ken Trowbridge, first became interested in greyhound racing.
One of their first greyhounds was a pup by Hallucinate out of a dam called Scarlett, who to be fair, never really set the world on fire when winning several low-grade races from 50-odd starts.
Their purchase, later to be named Foot Luce, did hit the track but also failed to set the world on fire. In fact, on debut at Angle Park in June 2010, she was beaten by 28 lengths!
A couple of months later she did win her maiden at her second start at Angle Park in 30.63 seconds. Three unplaced runs then followed at Angle Park, Gawler and Port Pirie before a final run at the now long-closed northern track resulted in a 32 length defeat and signalled retirement.
But a decision in 2012 to mate Foot Luce with Vapour Whirl turned out to be one of the best decisions the couples ever made.
This turned out to be an outstanding litter. Winning more than $500,000, there were six city winners and multiple Group finalists.
Foot Luce suffered a snake bite after her first litter and died but among her progeny was Oakvale Destiny who won 17 races and close to $280,000 in prize money. And the line has subsequently continued to throw on.
Then, last month the Wilson-owned Oakvale Spirit, a daughter of Mepunga Blazer and Oakvale Beauty found her way down to Melissa Freitag and Jason Newman’s Moorak kennels.
Oakvale Beauty, a winner of 18 races and $120,000 in prize money, is a granddaughter of Foot Luce. According to Newman, Oakvale Spirit had appeared to lose all confidence after a fall at Gawler back in May. However, she was back among the winners when scoring a narrow win over No Fines in the Commercial Hotel Stake (400 metres) at last Thursday’s time-graded meeting.
Earlier in the day, Paul Cusack’s Quantum Leap opened his winning account in the Winning Post Supplies Maiden Stake (400 m). He is by Sennachie out of Springvale Diva, a daughter of Kinloch Brae and Footluce Diva (Vapour Whirl x Foot Luce).
Among Springvale Diva’s littermates is the Trowbridge-owned Axel Footluce, a winner of 21 races and $155,000 in prize money.
Meanwhile, Hamilton owner-trainer Lorraine Goodwin’s good year at Tara Raceway continued last Thursday when Sins To Burn won the Swallow Drive Meats Fast Forward final (400 metres).
Leading all the way from box three, the black dog staved off the Tracie Price trained Minh Ellie’s desperate finish when scoring by a head in a personal best time of 23.16 seconds.
Goodwin kicked off in January with a feature maiden win over 305 metres. Eleven more wins then followed prior to Sins To Burn’s Category 2 prize money final win last week.
By Aston Kimetto, Sins To Burn is out of Slew Left, a daughter of Barcia Bale x Lochinvar Vogue who won five races over distances ranging from 525 metres to 660 metres.
Training honours for the day went the way of Meningie trainer Tim Richards who landed a treble with Circus Craze, Sir Patrick and She’s Driven.
Contesting the Ary Sports Bar & Bistro Stake (600 m), Circus Craze was always on the pace, taking up the running off the back before powering away to a 5¼ length win over kennelmate Spinning Pixie in 35.40 seconds.
In the Williams Crane Hire Stake (512 m), Sir Patrick settled in second spot before finishing strongly and edging out Mighty Molly to win by a neck in 30.47 seconds.
And She’s Driven led all the way from box eight in the Todd’s Photographics Stake (400 m) when defeating a fast finishing Saint Ollie by 1¾ lengths in 23.48 seconds.
For Richards, the treble was his second at Tara Raceway this year following Spinning Pixie, Lady Kate and Wickham’s wins on September 14.
--
Riding home a winner at the dogs
Nathan McKay, based over Bendigo way at Toolleen, made a successful return to Tara Raceway last Thursday with first starter Likoni in the Carlin & Gazzard Maiden Stake (305 metres).
Always on the pace from box four, the white and black bitch railed through to take the lead off the back before running away to a 2½ length win over Melody Bay in a handy 17.99 seconds.
By Fernando Bale, Likoni is out of Mombasa, a winner of four races at Sale and a litter sister to Adelaide Cup winner Hooked On Scotch. This is a repeat mating with the first litter including Nyali King, so far a winner of 15 races and more than $67,000 in prize money.
And for Melody Bay, a pint-sized 21½ kilogram daughter of Worm Burner and Zipping Melody, it was her fifth consecutive second placing at the track for Koroit trainer Gerald McKenna.
McKay took over the training of Likoni and her still unraced litter sister Bamburi about a month ago for high-profile jockeys Jason Maskiell and Damian Lane.
“They had both been trialling when I got them but to be honest I wasn’t sure how Likoni would handle herself at a new track. We were just hoping – and she didn’t let us down,” he said.
“This was my first involvement with Damian but back in July I had been successful here with another one of Jason’s greyhounds called Riverside Lily who won over 400 metres.”
Once again, the McKay family was out in force with wife Natalie and children Daniel and Alyssa in attendance to also watch Burdock and Mad Brax fill third placings.
First involved as an owner in 2009, McKay has been training greyhounds since 2019. His first Tara Raceway winner was Mad Brax in June 2022.
Meanwhile, Mount Cottrell owner-trainer Paul Cusack landed at Tara Raceway last Thursday with several “Quantum” greyhounds bred in SA by Daniella Madalinski at Freeling.
Lining up in the first race, the Winning Post Supplies Maiden Stake (400 m) were litter brothers Quantum Leap, a first starter, and Quantum King who had run two seconds at the track.
By Sennachie, they are out of Springvale Diva, a maiden greyhound but well bred, being by Kinloch Brae x Footluce Diva. A couple of her littermates include Axel Footluce (21 wins, $155,000 prize money) and Jack Get Back (18, $71,000).
And it was Quantum Leap who picked up the maiden SA-Bred Bonus when leading all the way from box one and defeating Cawbourne Kiki by a length in 24.15 seconds.
“The maiden bonus for SA-bred winners is certainly a real plus,” Cusack said. “I’ve got a few SA-bred maidens in the kennels at the moment so I’ll certainly be bringing them over to try and pick up the extra incentives.”
Quantum Leap’s win was Cusack’s first local success since Aston Knox in May last year. However, his involvement in greyhound racing at Mount Gambier goes back to November 2018 and Gin Lee’s Pride who was his first winner at Tara Raceway.