AUTHOR: Lewis Williams
EMILY WALLIS: Greyhound Derby BLOG 8
EMILY WALLIS continues her blogging on the Star Sports Greyhound Derby with the third round now complete. Emily reflects on round three and also looks ahead to the quarter finals on Saturday with the countdown clock still ticking down to the Derby final on Saturday 29 June ….
⭐ LATEST STAR OUTRIGHT MARKET, HEATS & SPECIALS ⭐
⭐ Welcome back once again! it really feels like we are reaching the later stages of the Derby now with just 7 races left in the entire competition including 4 quarter finals on Saturday, writes EMILY WALLIS.
We were treated to 8 fantastic third round heats last Saturday at Towcester which were great to watch. It was also fantastic to see plenty of people turning up at the track to watch these very fast greyhounds in action, there was a really nice crowd there which certainly adds to the atmosphere and is what it should be like with the class of dogs that are running. We are of course still waiting for it to feel like Derby weather! The fanfare as each race comes out on parade is also back and has worked really well at drawing attention to the dogs adding to the atmosphere all the more.
⭐ The first heat on Saturday was a warm one and was won by Irish Derby sensation The Other Kobe giving Graham Holland his first qualifier into the quarter finals, he really showed off his fantastic early pace to lead at the second bend and go on by 2 and a half lengths. Considering he hadn’t run since his Irish Derby win last September, how he is running at Towcester is quite remarkable and he is visibly getting stronger every week, he really looks like a hard dog to lead around the track. With Hawkfield Blue and Whyaye Man running on for the qualifying spots, we lost a couple of the Irish big guns in Clonbrien Treaty and Singalong Dolly but it was a great race that set the scene for the rest of the night.
⭐ Droopys Pivotel was the winner of the second third round heat starting a great night for Maxine Locke who qualified all of her dogs through from the third round into the quarter finals. Hopefully people took note of my Star Sports kennel visit that I did with Maxine before the competition started, I thought she had a really nice team of dogs to go into the Derby with which has proved right with three still in there. Pivotel is still a puppy and improving all the time, Cooliogold is running very consistently and Coss Tokyo certainly looks a hard one to keep out of the frame!
⭐ There were another couple of big name Irish dogs that exited the competition in Jaytee Etienne, Antigua Hawk, Glengar Martha and Road Exile but they certainly do still have a strong hand with 12 dogs in the quarter finals to 11 English contenders so it’s pretty even. Although an Irish trained winner is still 4/9 with Star Sports. Any greyhound to go unbeaten is 13/8, potential contenders could be Crafty Shivoo, King Memphis and The Other Kobe if you fancy any of those three.
⭐ Unfortunately on Monday we did receive the sad news that Swords Rex has had to be withdrawn lame from the quarter finals after sustaining a muscle injury. He looked like the same dog that we saw round Towcester last year in the first two rounds and just qualified in a super hot heat last week but connections have unfortunately had to make the decision to withdraw him. The Riverside Kennels, as always, have been great on social media though and have already shared a nice picture of him recovering well at home, he has truly been a star round Towcester the last couple of years! Of course Graham Holland does still have the defending champion Gaytime Nemo in the competition which is great to see, he too faced a really tough third round heat but ran a great race as usual to qualify and the quest to be a dual Derby champion is still on.
⭐ LATEST STAR OUTRIGHT MARKET, HEATS & SPECIALS ⭐
⭐ It is interesting to note that in 5 Derbys around Towcester, a bitch is still yet to reach the final. Our own Crafty Shivoo is looking to change that and has been the fastest heat winner in the last two weeks. There were people worried about her drawn in trap 1 last week but, as she continues to proves not draw dependent at all, she blasted out from 1 in what was one of the most thrilling races of the Derby so far with the strong De Lahdedah turning behind her. He lost nothing in defeat still clocking 28.64!
⭐ Another performance that impressed me was Grouchos Duke for John Byrne, he was in a really good race but showed his nice early pace to lead and looked a lot stronger than in the first two rounds holding off the other runners comfortably in a much improved time of 28.98. On the dog, John said: “We were delighted with Duke last Saturday and it is great to be in the next round, he’s been in great form since we’ve got home. We took the decision to enter him into the Derby last minute as we knew he wasn’t fully fit. He hadn’t had a four bend trial in over 10 weeks after picking up a shoulder injury in early March. We were apprehensive about how he would perform in the first round and slightly lucky he held on for third. He has gotten stronger week on week so we’re really looking forward to Saturday’s quarter final, it is really tough as there’s a huge amount of early pace in the heat so whoever traps best will likely be in pole position to qualify. We would have liked to have been closer to the rails but we’re hopeful he can finish in the top three.”
⭐ Billy Brennan and myself will be back with another Twitter Space on Wednesday at 8pm, it should be a good one with some of the connections we plan to get on to speak about their runners and will once again get the excitement flowing for the weekend.
⭐ In terms of the four quarter finals you’d have to say the first is probably the hottest with Superfast Gorden in 1, the defending champion Gaytime Nemo in 2, Crafty Shivoo will be looking to take a flyer from trap 3 and will need to with some serious early pace outside of her in Droopys Pivotel, Grouchos Duke and Churchfield Syd. The run to the bend in that race is going to be absolutely crucial as they will all be going very fast into it.
⭐ LATEST STAR OUTRIGHT MARKET, HEATS & SPECIALS ⭐
⭐ King Memphis lines up in the second quarter final and after a victory last week in what was such a fantastic race, he is now back as ante-post favourite and just 3/1 to win the entire competition, he certainly looks like he can lead up the inside in that race and that would probably be the race over but it’s never quite that easy running against this class of dog but you’d like to think he will be taking his place in the semis and his price will shorten even further.
⭐ As we get closer to the Derby final night, all preparations are still going well to make it a fantastic night. One thing that has been thought of to add another nice touch is to have Signet Goofy leading out the parade for the final. He unfortunately made an early exit from the Derby where it was decided that he’d be retired but he was an extremely popular dog who lit up Towcester for the last couple of years and it will be nice for the crowd seeing him at the track for the last time. He’s got a great personality to go with his racing ability too, if you walked past him at the track he’d be straight up on your shoulder giving you a hug so it’s nice that he is being honoured for the star he was and he can bid farewell to his fans.
⭐ It’s going to be a really busy weekend at Towcester with the Derby Plate heats also taking place on Saturday, with the class of entries the Derby had it’s set to be a really hot competition and hopefully the final can be as good as last year which was an absolutely thrilling race. Sunday at the track also sees the start of multiple other Category 2 competitions that from next week will also run alongside the Derby so you won’t want to miss Sunday’s racing either. Finals night is set to be a really top class night of racing and it feels like it’s getting ever closer with the start of the supporting competitions this weekend.
⭐ I know I can’t wait for Saturday as we get another step closer to the final, it can be a tough stage to exit the competition in so I wish everyone connected with a runner the best of luck and hopefully the crowds will turn out once again for another great evening of racing.
EMILY
STAR PROMOTIONS
HOST:
Most Read
SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Grand Nation...
There’s no better way to go into...
HARRY SKELTON: Aintree Festival Debrief
It was a brilliant Aintree for us,...
GRAND NATIONAL 2026: Star Sports Pins...
The 178th running of the Randox...
