BOB MAY

THE first heats of the time-honoured Gawler Produce series were run at Gawler greyhounds on Friday afternoon.

This is a paid up series for greyhounds whelped in 2017, and consists of the heats, followed by semi-finals on June 28 and then the final to be run on July 7.

The winner of heat one was Kisses For Cloda (three), which got to the front as they swept into the home straight, running 31.09 seconds to win by half a length over Stitch ’em Cilla (two), from Long Gully Terry (eight).

Kisses For Cloda is trained by Ray Fewings, with Stitch ‘em Cilla trained by Clint Trengrove and Long Gully Terry by Ken Gill.

Heat two saw Allinga Mal (three) race to the front when able to head Victorian visitor Quara’s Flick (one) heading into the back straight, and going on to win by two-and-ahalf lengths in 31.12  seconds, with Vermouth (two) third.

The winning trainer was Yvonne King, with Deb Coleman second and Lauren Harris third.

The third heat was the fastest of the three, and saw Star Anise (one) lead after the first turn, and was untroubled in the run to win nearly four lengths in 30.90 seconds, from Oakvale Beauty (seven) and Fly For Fun (four).

The winner was trained by Jan Jones, with the second placed greyhound trained by Nathan Wilson, with the third runner by Lauren Harris.

The owners of Allinga Mal were pretty happy after the race, as it was there first time they have entered the series, plus landing a winner.

Trained at Langhorne Creek by Yvonne King, the black dog is raced by Trevor and Tracey Davey, and Les and Barbara Rogan.

Trevor and Tracey bred the dog, the first litter from their own female Allinga Dot.

The dog has strong emotional significance for the connections, as it was selected by Yvonne’s late father Wal and named after Barbara’s late father Mal.

His racing name was easy as “Mal”, with a kennel name of “Wal”.

Trevor and Tracey have been involved in the greyhound industry for about nine tears, getting started through Tracey’s family interest in greyhounds and horses, and they currently have three racing dogs, plus some interest in syndicates, as well as pups and a few breeding females.

As for Allinga Mal, Tracey is not always quite sure what he will do in a race, but described him as a real character, who loves attention.

With a bit of luck, perhaps he can make it through to the final, which would be a big thrill to connections.

He certainly has the opportunity, with a record of eight wins and seven placings from 18 starts.

Racing at Gawler is every Friday and Tuesday afternoon, but due to the Produce Final, the normal Friday meeting on July 5 will be transferred to July 7.