GREYHOUND DERBY 2026: Kaan’s Quarter-Final Betting Report

Our Head of On-Course, Kaan Hughes, reflects on all the betting action from the quarter-finals of the Greyhound Derby…

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Another week has been and gone, and it’s Saturday. The quarterfinals of the 2026 Star Sports Greyhound Derby are upon us, 23 (one was withdrawn during the week) still have dreams of etching their name into the history books forever more as Derby champion, but there is oh so much to do before then.

What else has happened this week? Well, we found out that our new adopted cat was actually from ‘2 Doors down’, no, not Beth’s cat (if you’ve ever seen that show), but apparently, they were trying a new feeding regime. Guess what, it’s not flipping working is it! I actually thought she (yes it’s also a she), I’d named it Billy, which can fit both, but it’s called Pixie, still responds to Pixie, just saying…but I thought shed been grounded as hadn’t seen her, perhaps she told them our sausage rolls were better than their cat food. Well roll on a few days we had a gas man out doing a check on our boiler and who comes running round the corner to take guard, Pixie! This cat’s quite ok, and I’m not cat person!

Anyway, we’ve been racing all over the UK in the past week, and leaving Windsor on Monday it was 8c, dropping to 2c when arriving home, and having my hood up for the majority of the meeting due to the bitter winds cutting across the rail, it wasn’t a pleasant evening with business quite quiet. I mean I love the place, but that’s what happens when you have three meetings in 8 days, less is more, it always will be, and the whole industry needs to take note of this. Geographically make it fairer and practically for the horse industry make it streamlined.

Right, back at Towcester, five days on from those cold nights at Windsor, and I have been travelling down the M40 in shorts and T-shirt, the weather is baking, and suddenly it has dawned on me that my Puma racing style shoes, are the only ones I have with me. My suit trousers, shirt and every other smarting looking attire is in the back, but the shoes are polished drying at home! I’m ninety minutes into the journey, I cannot possibly go back. I cannot wear these with trousers, completely wrong. I cannot wear shorts at the Derby. I’ll ring Max shoes hoping he hasn’t left, one of the finest shoe cobblers/suppliers you will meet, of course he’s left home. Right, fire up the sat-nav. Shoe shops. Nike, sketchers (seriously?), the list goes on, so I entered Next, I’d missed the Bicester village turn off and now the traffic is building up, but I have no options here. So, I continue to Banbury ‘Next’, just another twenty minutes in the wrong direction. I get there and find a pair, eco nonsense written on them, soft cushioned heel, real leather, £42, seems fair, I have had Next before, some ok pairs, but I like Jones the bootmaker, soft leather, and a must for any person on their feet for a long time. Anyway, I get to Towcester, and setup in a rush, go and get changed, put these fine pair of shoes on, and they are the most uncomfortable piece of trash I’ve ever bought, the leather is like sandpaper, they rub, they are hard, they are a joke, but I’ve got to see this out.

👞 Top tip: Don’t forget your shoes!

Things haven’t gone to plan for @KaanHughes so far on his way to @TowcesterRaces, resulting in an impromptu trip to Next!

18+ | GambleAware pic.twitter.com/gXEWChCRxe

— Star Sports Bookmakers (@StarSports_Bet) May 23, 2026

Due to racing at Fontwell in what can only be described as a derby style crowd, in a British heatwave, and with Windsors bank holiday Monday special on the horizon, going through all 12 races to get this out on time is near in impossible. However, if I told you going into the quarter finals, we were firmly on the back foot, to many of you, it will be of delight, so here we are, hoping to find a result from somewhere with the stars about to turn up the heat (hopefully not literally), we wouldn’t be British if we didn’t moan about the weather, but this is enough, whilst working our rear ends off.

What an opening quarter final we have, Proper Heiress in one, Epic Ace in two, Under Ground Gold in three, Droopys Aladdin in four and Ballymac Iroko in six as this was the five dog event due to the non-runner. Take your pick, there is a spread of business, and some decent bets flying around, then the money comes from Epic Ace, then two lumps for Proper Heiress, add a bit more to Epic Ace from a hedge bet then wallop even more. In for more than we want, but you can’t pick what they bet, we are now even money Ace, 7/4 Heiress, and it’s one way traffic. At off time, Ace was around an £8k loser, Heiress wins us £3k the rest get the sweets. One way traffic was exactly how the race panned out when Epic Ace led from traps rise to win scoring nicely from the fast-finishing Iroko, with Mr consistent, Heiress grabbing that all important third spot.

Right, we’ve finally finished paying out, the second quarter final prices are on the board and one of the two classy lady’s lines up here and she’s been so popular throughout this derby. There is gulf in class from the front end to the others in this race. Things are consistent until we lay an £8000/1000 Priceless Romeo early who takes a big walk in the market, a £1000/400 Scooby The lady Early, then multiple grands at 9/4, see’s her very red, but don’t worry about that Duffle is 10/11 and we are laying proper business. This is the Derby, and why it is the greatest show on sand, grand, grand, grand and so on, it’s relentless, and the loser is now a winner, Duffle loses us £5k, Scooby wins us £2500 and the rest win around £17k, bar Romeo who is around £9k for the one big bet that stood out. We need a result, we are treading water here, I’m gasping for air, in fact I need watering down, or getting in that cool down pool the dogs have, I’m struggling in this heat (feeling a bit ropey). Lids rise and Scooby The Lady has gone bingo once again, is anything going to lead this lady because if they do, they are going to have to come under the bars on elastic. Duffle heads to the rails, finds trouble, but the eventual winner was in front, and they are all playing catch up. A winning race, but when you are paying out so often, it barely feels like it.

Arguably the weaker of the quarters some said on paper, but it’s all about opinions, and Ballymac Deniro a warm order here may have something to say about that on recent evidence but yet to get it completely right. This won’t take much to summarise, other than we laid everyone inside the borders of the British Isles at 10/11, we took £648 on the rest of the field and took over £15k the jolly. Needless to say at this point, we knew our fate in two strides, Deniro finally went ping, and that was game set and the match as nothing would back run this dog, although Lennies Eddie game him a good race in behind, but the rest not sighted and it was a case of pay, pay and more pay, oh and find if any money had slipped behind the joint as we are scraping the barrel now.

The final quarter final and we are firmly past our necks at this point, but although down, never out, we will come out swinging. A great race and Ballymac Ralf opens up favourite, and we do a lot of business here, a complete spread of money. £15 the minor money Getup The Boy, £275 Slick Sentinel, then four figures the other four. At the off the red was the bogey losing £5600. Hackney Corner wins £6k, Skye and Ralf win the entry fee, and the others take the lot. The lids sprung back and one was first to show, oh no, not again, he was soon beaten for early when Hackney Corner raced into a lead, to which point I though he’d win as far as he liked, but he gave a gap down the backstraight that the other leading lady, Strike It Skye took full advantage of and shot up his inside and then Ballymac Ralf came with a run. I’m still not sure how Hackney never won, but we kept the entry fee, and I don’t know to take the race as a positive, but any win is a positive I suppose!

Well, it was a chastening experience once again. It seems to be role reversal this year, we normally do it in early, and go after it for the rest of the event. This year we seemed to have got a bit in the hod early this year only to spray it out like confetti from round three. But we won’t back down, come next Saturday we will rise with our heads high, our chest out, and stand on the joint ready to tackle all that comes our way again. Twelve dogs have been given their traps to book themselves a potential spot with destiny, but one race can ruin so many dreams, and next Saturday we will find out who those final six will be.

I would also like to leave you this week with some advice that the great Baz Luhrmann once sang. It is very apt with the current weather. Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

If you’ve never heard the song, I question your musical knowledge, if you have heard it, go and listen once again. It’s a classic.

We are out and about this week on many race courses so do check out our race calendar for the week, and our social media coverage from the racetracks. Give it some interaction if you want. Thursday is also a big evening at Sandown Park for Star Sports where we sponsor the card with the big race being the Brigadier Gerard Stakes.

Take care one and all.