It was in a Pathway race at Mount Gambier’s Tara Raceway on Wednesday, November 9, 2016 that marked the start of a quite remarkable couple of months racing for Glenroy greyhound Glenville Jester.
Pathway races were the forerunner of the time-graded system which is now in place.
Basically they were introduced to ensure maximum participation for greyhounds that were running outside a specific time standard.
And even though Glenville Jester had won nine races in a career that had started in mid-2015 for trainer Richard Clayfield, by the time this particular meeting came around the black dog had been out of the winner’s list for some months.
It has to be said the furthest thing from Clayfield’s mind at the time would have been some of the bigger races to be run at Tara Raceway in the upcoming weeks.
No, a non-penalty Pathway win over 512 metres for prizemoney of just over $400 would be fine.
As it turned out, Glenville Jester easily accounted for his Pathway rivals, winning by eight lengths in 30.21 seconds.
The time compared more than favourably on the day with non-Pathway 512 metres winners Redda, McRay and Blazin’ Vicky.
“You have to be going pretty bad to even be eligible for a pathway race, let alone win one.
And believe me, he was (going badly),” said Clayfield after the win.
Then, a fortnight later he won a heat and the following week the final of the time-honoured Newman McDonnell Memorial, one of the toughest grade five features to win at Tara Raceway.
Come December and it was time to take on the big boys and girls in the 2016 Williams Crane Hire Christmas Cup (512m).
In his heat, Glenville Jester chased Cool Whipp down the back before finishing over the top of Old Jock and the early leader.
As luck would have it, Glenville Jester drew box one in the final.
So, in the space of seven weeks leading up to the Christmas Cup, the born-again greyhound was heading towards his sixth win from seven starts.
While Clayfield’s dog was always going to be hard to beat, main interest centred on the other heat winner and race favourite Mojito Mayhem who was attempting to win his third cup for the year at Tara Raceway.
Before a large Christmas Cup crowd, it was Glenville Jester who flew the lids and led around the first turn with Nicole Stanley’s 2016 Mount Gambier Greyhound of the Year Old Jock in hot pursuit.
Down the back straight the pair opened up a handy break over the opposition but in the run home it was Glenville Jester who landed his 13th win for the year.
He defeated Old Jock by two lengths in 30.05 seconds – a Christmas Cup winning time second only to Who’s Doing What’s 29.77 seconds in 2014.
Clayfield raced the winner in partnership with his brother Kevin and long-time racing partner, Coonawarra-based Dale Lewis, who had just made it back in time from an overseas trip with wife Judy to witness the win.
Clayfield and Lewis started racing greyhounds together in the mid-80s, a time when the latter was also involved as secretary of the South East Greyhound Racing Club as it was then known.
Bred by Clayfield, Glenville Jester is by Vapour Whirl out of Glenville Maggie who won the 2011 Mount Gambier Anniversary Cup for the partnership.
Even to this day, Lewis still marvels at the success Glenville Jester achieved at Tara Raceway in that couple of months.
“If you could have seen him on our little track you would not have thought he was the same dog,” he said.
“He used to show absolutely no interest in chasing the lure.
“Thankfully, from time to time he did switch on once hitting Mount Gambier.”
All told, from that pathway meeting in November 2016 to January 6, 2017, Glenville Jester raced on nine occasions for seven wins – including two feature events – and two seconds.
But it would then be a further six months before he brought up his 17th and final career win.
Glenville Jester, at the time one of local greyhound racing’s great enigmas, ran his last race on September 3, 2017.
Heats of this year’s Williams Crane Hire Christmas Cup will be run at Tara Raceway on Thursday, December 10 with the final on Sunday, December 20.
