The first two meetings of the season were catering solely for both puppies and maidens and the meetings are memorial days. Just to acknowledge and remember those that supported and contributed to our sport and are no longer with us.
Two weeks in and this is how our nominations for our coursing meetings for the 2025 season are going.
Longwood 27/04/2025 155
Lang Lang 04/05/2025 106
Early in the season we never struggle for nominations so a huge thank you to those who nominated.
Longwood’s meeting on 27/04/2025, the maiden and puppy winners and runners up were:
Taking out:
Event 1 a memorial event for Deb Coleman was D Hammerstein’s IS HE LUCKY, with T. Van Taarling’s SHAGGY BEAR running up.
Event 2 was another memorial event for the Lalor family.
Graham Glass is a dab hand at producing a winner and this week we saw him once again in the winner’s circle with FLED THE SCENE who defeated ROSCOE BALE trained by Skye Webb.
Event 3 Delbridge Racing Kennels – Maiden Dog was the first event of some of the Longwood sponsors where we saw Mark Roberts’ who is a long-time supporter of our part of the industry has LITTLE JACK FINN up for the task, taking out this event with a defeat over Cindy Morrissey’s OVER ACHIEVER.
Event 4 Elite Greyhound Supplies – Maiden Dog where we saw Sean Lithgow’s campaigner MICK SAYS SO defeat Michele Berry’s SHARPEN UP who gained a run as a reserve.
Event 5 Heathcote Park Kennels – Maiden Dog where Christian Roberts’
ASTON GLEAM took home the chocolates for the Roberts’ kennel with a defeat over Murray Collyer’s MY BRO JILL who ran up.
Event 6 J & K Racing – Maiden Bitch
Jodi Thorpe’s HOT SUMMER SKY headed for home with her defeat over Gary Walker’s FRANKLIN AVENUE who ran up.
Event 7 Country Mile Syndicate – Maiden Bitch
CATCH A COD for Steven Vantaarling defeated David Pryse’s LUNA BEAUTY. Both these greyhounds are coursed previously, so they both knew what they had to do to get into the final round.
Event 8 Shepparton Greyhound Racing Club – Maiden Bitch
In the last of the maiden bitch events, we saw ZIPPING KERR who made the trip down from Wagga worthwhile for his trainer Paul Strutt when he defeated Cameron Knott’s CLARA STELLA who gained a start as a reserve. ZIPPING KERR also took home the race caller’s run of the day
And now to the puppies (the greyhounds whelped on or after 1st March 2023).
Event 9 Bendigo Greyhound Racing Club – Puppy Dog
Where we saw Rob Glass’ NO MORE BEER walk a straight line unimpeded with a defeat over Shaun Boag’s TICKETS who ran up.
Event 10 Burton’s Supa IGA – Puppy Bitch
Wayne Gray’s puppy bitch TAKEN HOSTAGE who gained a start as a reserve defeated Brendon Jones’ BOGAN BEND who ran up.
And now we head to Lang Lang.
Lang Lang’s meeting on 4/05/2025, the maiden and puppy winners and runners up were:
Event 1 Mark Denovan Memorial – Maiden Dog
What can one say about Mark, such a lovely kind hearted person and we all miss him. His smiling face and positive attitude even when the going was tough. RIP Mark.
In this event we saw a greyhound who coursed for the 1st time last week at Longwood in IS HE HAPPY open his coursing card with a win for the Hammerstein crew but Are Gringhuis’ DREAM ON ALLAN who obtained a start as a reserve certainly made ‘Happy’ work for the win.
Event 2 Elgas – Maiden Dog
If the Nolan family didn’t get a winner in this event with 3 runners, due to two trainers (Justin & Michelle) in the family plus a reserve runner due to a scratching it would have been surprising. Two of their greyhounds reached the final. MY RULES who gained a start due to a scratching won the event due to a walkover, as BEGGIN’ pulled up a bit sore for the final and was withdrawn.
Event 3 Veolia Waste – Maiden Dog
Brad Sands’ KING CHERRY has his first tilt at the coursing caper and did not disappoint with handy runs when he defeated Renata Silva’s JAMS STAR who was first time course too.
Event 4 Larmax Trading – Maiden Dog
This event saw another greyhound take home the goods after it gained a start due to a scratching Matthew Clarke’s MYALL RAY coursed comfortably all day with a win over Geoff Howell’s RUMOUR WHY PETER who ran up.
Event 5 RAM Locksmiths – Maiden Bitch
The first of three bitch maidens saw Rebecca Romyn’s SWEET BEE run some very handy times (17.03, 16.96 & 16.97) to collect the winner’s purse with a win over John Brown’s LITTLE VENICE.
Event 6 Winning Post Greyhound Supplies – Maiden Bitch
Robin Moore’s handy bitch STRIKE A MATCH coursed very well with great times for the whole day. In the final she defeated Michelle Nolan’s JUJU BLUE who also has some handy times.
Event 7 Cranbourne Greyhound Racing Club – Maiden Bitch
Another one of Are Gringhuis’ team performed well for the entire day when she took out this event and defeated Gordon Edwards’ KEEPING NOSE.
Event 8 Sandown Greyhound Racing Club
John Bosnich’s JAMS DONUTS (and yeah, a donut would have been great at some time during the day) coursed confidently for the whole day but didn’t need to take to the field for the final due to the withdrawal of Kin Erenshaw’s FLYING ENVY.
Event 9 Healesville Greyhound Racing Association – Puppy Dog
The first of the puppy events, saw another one from the Brad Sands kennel. This greyhound was a flying machine for the entire day with times 16.60, 16.56 and 16.88 in his final where he defeated Steven Manning’s STORMS WILL ROLL.
Event 10 Warragul Greyhound Racing Club Puppy – Mixed
This puppy event was a mixed event with both dogs and bitches and here we saw last week’s puppy bitch winner Wayne Gray’s TAKEN HOSTAGE take the runner’s up position when she was defeated by Chris Armstrong’s dog SALTY SNOOP.
It was a great day’s coursing with near perfect weather. Great food and a chance to catch up with folks you haven’t seen in a while.
TRAINERS NOTE:
If you’re thinking of nominating for either the Derby or the Oaks – read on!
- The Derby and Oaks this year will be conducted at Longwood on the weekends of 8th and the final on the 15th We will be calling for 16 dog (males) and 16 bitches (females) for each of these puppy events. Two runs each day. There will be a consolation for the dogs run out in the first round.
- Preference will be given to those puppies that have coursed previously.
- Puppies are those greyhounds whelped on or after 1st March 2023.
- Potentially you can win multiple puppy events for the entire season
- Greyhounds can nominate for coursing events from the age of 16 months that’s great for those puppies that are ready to race but too young. Get them physically fit and chasing hard with only one other competitor.
See you at Longwood for the Benalla Cup and the Gary Brett Memorial. On 18th May. Nominations with GRV by 8.30 am 15th May 2025.
