RESIDENTS will have the chance to take a step back in time soon with the history of the city’s greyhound racing set to be on show.
From the initial races in the 1860s to more recent items, it will not be long before racing enthusiasts can experience it all.
Mount Gambier Racing Club committee member Tim Holmes said this week currently there was Mount Gambier Cup memorabilia on show while the club awaited the installation of shelving in the glassed area in order items pertaining to both coursing and track racing could be placed on display.
“With Tara Raceway closing for a couple of weeks as from April 26 for the purpose of extensive race track remodelling, we’re hoping to have the memorabilia display up and running by the time racing resumes on Sunday, May 13,” he said.
“We already have quite a few items in our possession to be displayed, including the cup and photographs of George Hinton’s Doctor Mac who won the 1932 Mount Gambier Coursing Club’s President’s Cup.
“And the 1964 inaugural Sandown Park Laurels sash won by Newman McDonnell’s Tara Princess will also be on display.
“Also, we are looking to feature a timeline of the history of greyhound coursing and track racing in the region and in particular are seeking any information in relation to the early days of coursing.”
Holmes said he did have some old photographs in his possession, one of Radiant Thorn pictured after winning the SA St Leger at the Glenburnie Plumpton, probably some time in the 1930s and noted back then the participants were referred to as “leashmen”.
He said the club was always on the lookout for greyhound memorabilia in order the exhibition items could be rotated from time to time.
Honour boards for Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing and Coursing Club Inc. presidents, secretaries and life members, along with Mount Gambier Cup winners have been placed in position next to the memorabilia display.
Incidentally, one of the first SA coursing events took place in June 1867 at Naracoorte, with the Naracoorte Coursing Club formally established the following year.
Shortly after, the club held the first Australian Waterloo Cup.
Man of many hats
GREYHOUND Racing South Australia (GRSA) industry board representative Ray Fewings, at Tara Raceway recently with GRSA chairman Grantley Stevens and chief executive Matt Corby for the Mount Gambier Cup final, took the opportunity to also race a couple of his pretty handy greyhounds while in Mount Gambier.
It turned out to be a good move with both dogs, Paua To Kapau and Do not Kid Me, scoring comfortable 512-metre wins in 29.81 seconds and 29.98 seconds respectively.
A week later, Fewings then changed hats yet again, this time putting his own unique slant on all things greyhound racing when calling last Sunday’s 11-race meeting at Tara Raceway.
Fewings has owned and trained greyhounds since he was 13, his race-calling debut coming a couple of years later at Waterloo Corner, situated north of Adelaide, and where the dogs used to chase a pilot dog around a U-shaped track.
Apparently the dogs were lined up at the boxes on this particular Sunday afternoon before it was discovered the race-caller had not turned up.
Fewings put his hand up for the job and the rest is now history.
Anzac Day finale
HEATS of the Ivor Dowdell Memorial, first run last year, will be conducted at Tara Raceway on Sunday, April 15, with the final decided at the club’s Wednesday meeting on April 25.
The memorial is run in memory of the former local stalwart who trained his last winner at 93 – thus earning him recognition far and wide as the “world’s oldest greyhound trainer”.
Born on Anzac Day, Dowdell, a carpenter by trade, became interested in greyhound racing in the mid-eighties, still rarely missing a meeting at Tara Raceway when in his early 90s.
He died in February 2017 in his 95th year, his family keen to run the returned serviceman’s memorial as part of the club’s annual Anzac meeting at Tara Raceway.
The Ivor Dowdell Memorial is for grade five greyhounds and run over 400 metres.
Last year’s inaugural winner was Lektra Excess, trained at Mumbannar by Monty Wilson.
