TARPEENA greyhound owner Dita Mitchell unashamedly shed tears of joy as she proudly walked Kinnky McPhee back after her win in the second heat of Sunday’s 512-metre Val and Col Sims Memorial Maiden at Tara Raceway on Sunday.
Placed in all of her first five starts, the sizeable 30 kilogram bitch opened her winning account for Mitchell and Compton trainer Tracie Price when leading all the way to eventually run out a 10 length winner over Got Some Cheek with a further six-and-a-half lengths back to third-placed Bomber Creek in 30.36 seconds.
Also through to the final is Pele’s Entity who finished fourth on debut.
Kinnky McPhee’s win had been a while coming, the daughter of Banjo Boy x Quick And Slick turning three next month and, according to her owner, certainly travelling down a rocky road before making her race debut at Tara Raceway only a month ago.
“She was purchased as an eight-month-old pup from Queensland,” Mitchell said.
“But straight away she did not look to be galloping properly, with a vertebrae issue later being identified.
“There were countless trips to Warrnambool for remedial work on her and later she had to have half of her tail removed.
“So, while it has not been all plain sailing, today’s emotional win made the effort all worthwhile.”
And as far as Mitchell and Price were concerned it was a case of third time lucky after her previous two greyhounds failed to make the race track and are now pets.
“I cannot speak highly enough of Tracie and the team out at Compton because they have done a wonderful job getting Kinnky McPhee to the track and now winning a race,” Mitchell said after her first Tara Raceway win.
Based at Tarpeena for the past 12 months, after a 10-year stint at Crowlands, Mitchell is hopeful of receiving a trainer’s licence next month and then preparing several of her two-year-old Banjo Boy youngsters for a tilt on the track.
The dog with the cool name – well, owner-trainer Nicole Stanley of Portland reckons Joshy Wink Wink is a cool name, anyway – won the first heat of the memorial after chasing Dimora Flash into the home straight before finishing the stronger to win by three-quarters of a length in 30.79 seconds.
Drysdale Creek, who finished the race off nicely in third spot and first starter Sudden Call are also through to the Sims Memorial final which will be run at Tara Raceway this Sunday.
Joshy Wink Wink, also a first starter, is another one that has experienced a few setbacks along the way – perhaps the most telling a distinct lack of desire to chase the lure.
“He just would not go a yard, but I think the finish-on-lure helped to sort him out,” Stanley said.
“Then he got into a fight with another dog on my property and that held him up for a bit longer.”
By My Bro Fabio x Lollipop Bling, the December 2015 whelping is a litter brother to Shiney Bling who won her maiden for Stanley back in October.
Stanley and Price, the leading trainer and runner-up at Tara Raceway in 2017, shared the training honours at Sunday’s first meeting of the season when also successful later in the day with Miss Pineapple and Same Scenario.
Success on Tara return
PARAPHERNALIA, a former 600-metre Tara Raceway record holder, 2017 Iron Dog and 2017 Mount Gambier Country Cup representative, made a successful return to Mount Gambier on Sunday.
Back at Tara Raceway for the first time since early October, the son of Big Daddy Cool x Scrappy Coco led all the way in the 512-metre Williams Crane Hire Stake to defeat Brinza by eight-and-a-quarter lengths in a personal best time of 29.90 seconds.
Now a winner of 23 races, Paraphernalia is trained at Horsham by Jeff Guy who said the rising four-year-old would probably do much of his racing at Tara Raceway this year with the Mount Gambier Cup being one of his priorities.
If you are wondering why kennelmate Frac Geek was scratched from the 400-metre Klaassens Contractors Stake later in the day, it was simply a matter of Guy inadvertently nominating the wrong dog – Kryptonian being the intended runner.
As Guy pointed out, Frac Geek probably would have struggled a bit as she is currently in pup to Barcia Bale.
Meanwhile, a couple of other cup contenders in Zuma Creek and Hutch staged a keen battle in the 512-metre winningformula.net.au Stake.
The Robert Halliday trained Hutch, on the back of a handy third at Warrnambool last Thursday night, quickly found the front from box one while Peter Crawley’s Zuma Creek stalked him from the outset before finishing the stronger to win by a half length in 29.92 seconds.
Zuma Creek, a son of Fabregas x Skye Creek, further enhanced his record at the track with the black dog having now won eight races and run five minor placings from 16 starts with a personal best time of 29.69 seconds.
Time-graded racing will return to Tara Raceway on Friday before the regular Sunday meeting.
