Star Sports Greyhound Derby: COUNTDOWN BLOG 1

We are now under three weeks away until the start of the 2018 Star Sports Greyhound Derby where we hope to surpass our first year achievements as sponsors of the first Greyhound Derby staged at Towcester – the new home of greyhound racing, writes JASON GANDER.

With a plethora of cat 1 and cat 2 competitions since the turn of the year we have seen many dogs emerge as Derby contenders.

Rising Brandy most recently proved very impressive in the Monmore Puppy Derby and has since put in a very good trial over the Derby trip which has seen the dog come into 33/1 after being available at 100/1 after his first round victory in the competition he went to claim in fine style.

Our biggest bogey is Forest West, we have laid down from 150/1 into 50/1 but the dog has yet to show his true colours and every time he has stepped up in class has been found wanting – so for us it isn’t the worst dog to have in the hod but there could be more to come after recently changing camps.

Bruisers Bullet has been a solid favourite for a while and has put in some great runs since his solid performances in the Derby last year. He won the Olympic at Hove in an almighty quick 29.60 (calculated) and there is no doubting the sheer speed of this greyhound. Since then he has had some really nice trials but recently has struggled in the Scottish Derby at Shawfield which is a notoriously awkward track to run so maybe we will let him have those poor runs for free.

The overseas challenge is coming later this year, last year many tracks in Ireland were closed so we had dogs trialling and running pretty much from the turn of the year, but this year they are in full swing at home with the Con Kirby taking centre stage as I write this.

The two dogs that have caught the eye the most are Pat Buckley’s two dogs Droopys Davy and Droopys Biker who have had some impressive clocks over at limerick and we have seen a steady flow of money for.

We also have had the return of Tyrur Shay with a great trial and the news that we will meet Clares Rocket this Saturday in a trial at our new HQ.

Things are heating up nicely, so make sure to get your bets sorted and a healthy ante- post book at www.starsports.bet