April 2023 and March 2023 youngsters Magic Mack and Moonlight Oscar both looked pretty good on debut when they fought out the Cadillac Racing Maiden Stake (305 metres) at Tara Raceway’s time-graded meeting last Thursday.
A $1.35 chance, the “dogs were barking” Magic Mack’s chances from box one and he duly led all the way for a 1½ length win over Moonlight Oscar in 17.94 seconds.
Trained at Glencoe by Edna Fennell, the black dog is by Feral Franky out of Perseverance, a winner of 16 races and the 2020 Mount Gambier Greyhound of the Year when trained by Fennell’s husband Dean.
Fennell also acquired Magic Mack’s litter sister Magic Poppy at the pup stage and she won on debut over 305 metres in 18.04 seconds at the beginning of October.
Moonlight Oscar, a son of Koblenz and Swift Brittany, is owned and trained at Warrnambool by Linda Gore, wife of the Warrnambool Greyhound Racing Club president Rob, and grandmother of young Ollie who ensured she had her hands full for most of the day.
But her 30 kilogram fawn dog looks as though it will not be too long before he breaks his maiden status given the manner in which he handled himself from box four at last week’s meeting.
Also over from Warrnambool were Kevin Finn and his daughter Marita Byron, chasing their first win with Anna Rhode, a daughter of Fernando Bale and Delta Rhode who had previously won six races.
Finn is the two-kennel trainer who keeps a greyhound in one and his lawnmower in the other.
And after his last greyhound, Tamborine Girl, was retired he had been on the lookout for a replacement – for another greyhound, not a lawnmower.
“Then, from out of the blue I received a call from the local legend Norm McCullagh who had heard I was looking for another dog. He suggested I bring Marita around and check out a greyhound that he would like her to take,” Finn said.
“So around we went to check out this white and fawn bitch who had won a few races. Seemed like a good offer to us, especially after he told us the two dog pups she had whelped several months earlier did not come with the deal!”
Anna Rhode went into last week’s race on the back of five starts at Tara Raceway – the last run a second placing behind Artificial Blue and suggesting that her first win in more than 12 months maybe was not all that far away.
And that’s how it turned out.
She was always on the pace from box five and in the run home found the line to win by neck from Cadillac Patch in 30.37 seconds in the Da’Leni Meats TG5+W Stake (512 m).
Another greyhound out of the winner’s circle for quite a while had been Compton Kelly.
She’s trained locally by Tracie Price and also owned locally by Michael Robinson and Willie Vossen, although the latter is currently touring WA but keeping an eye on Tara Raceway.
Lining up from box one in the last race – the Todd’s Photographics TG1-4W Stake (400m) – Compton Kelly was chasing her first win since March this year.
Sesamoid problems since had restricted her racing activity to only a handful of starts.
But as far as Robinson was concerned, the wait until race 12 had been worthwhile after the black bitch led all the way and defeated her kennelmate Barra Banjo by three lengths in a time of 23.27 seconds.
By Aussie Infrared, Compton Kelly is out of Tandiki, a daughter of Peter Rocket and Headline, and a winner of 18 races.
Tandiki whelped a second litter of two dogs by Smart Knocka in March this year.
And Bungaloo Bruiser obviously benefited from a short break from the track when returning to winning form for Kongorong owner-trainer John Little in the Trackside Pet Meats Pick 6 TG1-4W Stake (305 m).
Virtually leading all the way from box eight, the blue son of On Fire and Springvale Alysa brought up his third win from 43 starts with a length win over Bluer Than Blue in 18.03 seconds.
Now, it has to be said, Little does not mind having an occasional small wager on his greyhounds but even he was probably caught unawares when Bungaloo Bruiser scored at the massive odds of $71.
Certainly nice work if you can get it.
