By David Gilbert
NARACOORTE harness trainer Greg Schofiled continues to have success with his pacers, especially here in South Australia.
South East trainers always support the Victor Harbor club, even though the coastal club only has two meetings a year these days.
Generally, we come away with a winner or two and this time it was the Scholefield stable who had a late double at the Easter Sunday fixture.
Mikicool ($3.40) won the NR 60-69 pace and then Jawsofselwood ($5.50) won the following event, the NR 44 pace, both driven by Gaita Pullicino.
Six days later, Scholefield again had a double, this time early in the program at Globe Derby Park in Adelaide.
Hanging Fire ($1.33 fav.) led all the way in the NR 75 pace, then Mikicool ($1.60 fav.) took out the NR 63-74 pace with Pullicino again in the sulky for both wins.
As it turned out, only three races were run at Globe Derby as the rest of the meeting could not proceed due to the lights in the main straight malfunctioning.
Rarely do we see a harness meeting in this region disrupted due to rain.
However, that was the scenario over at Horsham on Monday when continuous rain saw the track unfit to race on and the final four races abandoned.
FINED FOR OUTBURST
STEWARDS have reacted to comments made by Mount Gambier trainer Wayne Walters on national television (Racing.Com) following the final race at Glenburnie on Mount Gambier cup day (March 15).
An inquiry was conducted on the grounds that Walters “engaged in conduct prejudicial to the image and interests of racing”.
The inquiry concluded last Tuesday week and Walters pleaded guilty to the charge.
He was fined $2,000 with $1,000 of the fine suspended for a period of two years, provided that Walters is not found guilty of a conduct related matter during that period.
UPS AND DOWNS
LAST year, Casterton racing club officials were on a high when the little club was voted the Victorian community club of the year.
Several new projects are underway this year with the betting ring refurbishment, a new storage shed, new judges tower and an upgrade to the ambulance track.
All that was tempered last Tuesday week when thieves entered the racecourse and helped themselves to plenty of equipment.
“It was a professional job, they knew what they were doing, and what they were after,” CRC general manager John Donnelly said.
“According to police, there have been a fair bit of similar type thefts around the district in recent times.”
The Casterton club are gearing up for its first meeting for 2024 on Sunday, May 19 which will feature the Casterton cup and the Two Rivers steeplechase.
LOYAL SPONSORS
SPONSORS in sport at all levels come and go on a regular basis and racing is no different.
The Mount Gambier racing club have been extremely fortunate to have two of their major sponsors on board for an incredible period of time.
The Scott Group of Companies have been loyal to the core and the Scott family have sponsored the Mount Gambier cup for over 40 years, starting back in the early 1980’s, when it was known as the Scott Mobil Mount Gambier cup,
Carlton and United Brewery has also had a very long association with the club, believed to have started in the early 1990’s.
The good news is that it will continue with Carlton Draught recently signing on with the club for another three years.
“The contract for the Scott Group of Companies comes up for renewal in September and we are hopeful of a very favourable outcome,” MGRC president Peter George stated.
The other very loyal sponsor for Limestone Coast racing is up at Naracoorte where local business house Mini Jumbuk has sponsored the Naracoorte cup for the past 21 years and that is expected to be ongoing also.
WELL KNOWN FACES
TWO faces who have become very familiar (and popular) with South East racegoers for several years hail from Victoria.
Bookmaker John Walsh and his wife/clerk Coral are based in Portland and have been crossing the border to operate at our meetings (Bordertown, Naracoorte, Perola and Mount Gambier) for the past 15 years.
Walsh has been registered as a bookie in Victoria for 22 years and decided to also take out a South Australian licence around the time that Mount Gambier bookmaker Ian Humphries retired.
His Victorian territory takes in the western half of the state, from the South Australian border to Warracknabeal in the north, Avoca in the north east and Colac in the east.
Walsh also gets a gig for the four days of the Melbourne cup carnival at Flemington each year with derby day and cup day as his biggest meetings of the year.
The other big carnival for him is the three day Warrnambool cup carnival which is just over a fortnight away.
Formerly from Warrnambool, Walsh was also a good footballer and played in a premiership for Warrnambool in the Hampden league in 1976.
His interest in bookmaking started many years ago when he worked on the bag for his twin brother/bookmaker Gary.
While on-course bookmakers are no longer the centre of attention on racecourses they once were, Walsh still loves the involvement.
“It is always a bit of a challenge to win money these days, but I still enjoy going to catch up with old friends and sportsmen,” Walsh stated.
VICTORIAN INVASION
NINE jump outs over 800 metres were conducted on the course proper at Glenburnie last Tuesday morning.
Amazingly, 57 of the 72 runners came from Victorian stables and the track received a positive reaction from trainers.
Some of the bigger Warrnambool trainers, including Symon Wilde, Tom Dabernig, Lindsey Smith and Maddie Raymond provided the majority of the horses, including the smart gallopers Mawallock and Tuvalu from the Smith stable.
Racing returns to Glenburnie for a mid week meeting on Wednesday, April 24.
TRIPLE HEADER
ALL three racing codes in the Limestone Coast will be in action this Sunday.
Gallops action will be at Bordertown where a mammoth 160 nominations were received for the seven race program.
Here in the Mount, there has been plenty of promotion for the greyhound meeting at the Tara raceway which will be Mount Gambier cup day and one that is always a great day on the local sporting scene..
A couple of hours later, just up the road will be the April meeting for local harness racing at the Greenwald Paceway.
