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 couple’s 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 5 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 2 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.
