THERE were a number of factors that contributed to the success of this year’s Mount Gambier Cup carnival, not the least being record prize money, record crowds and, of course, the Calcutta which is still being talked about.
The traditional Calcutta, sandwiched between the supporting events heats on the Friday and Sunday’s cup heats, also attracted a record crowd, which in turn led to record payouts to the purchasers of the Mount Gambier Cup final placegetters.
In fact, the purchasers of the eventual winner, Xtreme Caution, collected more than $4000 for a modest outlay and promptly declared they would be putting the money towards a greyhound.
Kevin “KD” Douglas, who kept things on an even keel and auctioneer Chris Manser, who have both been involved with countless racing-code Calcuttas over the years, reckoned this was one of the best of its type they had ever attended.
Adding to Sunday’s meeting was the return of distance racing, the Back To Distance Racing Mixed Stake, the first 732 metre event to be run on cup day since 2014 when the Brendan Bunworth-trained Maccaboy was successful in a time of 44.25 seconds.
“KD”, back again, this time to handle the on-course presentations and interviews, publicly extended a special welcome to Hoppers Crossing trainer Allan Meyer who had made the trip over with well-performed bitch Mick’s Angel to take on the local stayers.
Long-time trainer Meyer, who was at Tara Raceway for the first time, certainly liked what he saw, especially after Mick’s Angel scored a brilliant victory in the staying event.
Later, the affable Meyer sought out “KD” to thank him for the welcome.
A nice gesture and one appreciated by the master of ceremonies.
The Mount Gambier Cup aside, surely one of the highlights of the carnival was the performance of the Greg Board-trained Spring Bridge in the Produce Store Feature Maiden final over 512 metres.
The win by the June 2016 son of My Bro Fabio and Tina Lee was as impressive as you could ever hope to see – a margin of more than 16 lengths and the 29.63 seconds winning time the fastest ever recorded at the track for a maiden event.
Who knows, Spring Bridge might even go on to Group 1 glory.
And if he does, then rest assured we will be the first to point out this was the greyhound that kicked off his career at Tara Raceway.
Cinnamon Rose adds spice to line-up
THE month of March saw Glenroy trainer Richard Clayfield’s stocks rise considerably after the arrival of the Adelaide-owned Cinnamon Rose, who brought up her third win in succession at Tara Raceway last Sunday.
Clayfield’s first couple of months this year had been pretty miserable, Shore’s Last his only winner in early February, so when the opportunity presented itself to have a go with Cinnamon Rose he figured he did not have much to lose.
“It was actually a couple of things that fell into place and resulted in her finding her way down here,” Clayfield said.
“Cinnamon Rose was being trained by Reynella owner Ross Smith’s neighbour Wally Harkins, but a new trainer was required when he went on an overseas holiday.
“So with Ross’s son Damien currently building at Penola and making quite a few trips down here from Adelaide, they made contact to see if I would be interested, also believing the finish-on-lure at Tara Raceway probably would not do her any harm.”
Previously a winner of two 388 metre events at Angle Park, Cinnamon Rose won on debut at Tara Raceway for Clayfield over 400 metres on March 9 and beat the grader when winning again two days later.
He then stepped her up to 512 metres on cup day in the Laser Electrical Stake, which resulted in another comfortable win after an early tussle with Dimora Flash.
Cinnamon Rose was purchased in November by Smith, a former breeder, owner and trainer who bred 1983 and 1986 Mount Gambier Cup winners Magic Fame and Riverland Roy.
By US sire EJ’S Douglas, she is out of 15-race winner Eustace Diamond, a daughter of Surf Lorian and Coulta Sandy who won 20 races and $56,000 in prizemoney.
Clayfield has Cinnamon Rose engaged in box six in Sunday’s 512-metre Gordon Refrigeration Stake, with the grade five field likely to be the brindle bitch’s biggest test to date at Tara.
