EMILY WALLIS: Greyhound Derby Blog 8

⭐ The first semi-final on Saturday was won by the defending champion De Lahdedah; I was lucky enough to watch it from the middle of the track whilst reporting for Gone to the Dogs Live and seeing him fly home like he did, the thought of how well the dog is running and the potential that he could actually win it again gave me goosebumps. I am slightly too young to vividly remember Westmead Hawk so would love to see a dual winner of the Derby again. Working with dogs most of my life, I know how hard it is to win a Derby with a dog once, let alone twice! He’s running as well as ever though in my opinion and picking up Sole Mio last week proves just that.

⭐ The second-semi final was tainted with the injury to Dynamic Force but Bockos Diamond and Cheap Sandwiches were away and gone and that was always going to be the result from when the traps opened. Bockos Diamond bounced back impressively after his quarter-final defeat in a flying 28.51 and his trapping looked a lot better from trap 6 rather than trap 5, which he’s had to deal with a few times during the competition. He will be wearing the striped jacket for the £175,000 decider on Saturday too!

Star Sports & TRC English Derby 2025 – 2nd Semi-Final

🥇BOCKOS DIAMOND – 28.62
🥈CHEAP SANDWICHES
🥉DROOPYS PLUNGE

Well done to Remember Them Syndicate & Trainer Graham Holland@racingblogger @StarSports_Bet @TowcesterRaces pic.twitter.com/T8LrfWiYCD

— Gone To The Dogs (@GTTDPodcast) June 7, 2025

⭐ I like to run through the six runners lining up in the final every year and the first out of the drum this year was Droopys Plunge. He’s a dog who has definitely found his feet in the Derby and really does deserve his place in the final. He was bought around this time last year by Patrick Janssens and the Three Tall Men syndicate after some impressive runs around Cork; he was beat in his first maiden by Proper Heiress (that was some maiden!) but then found his feet winning plenty of races. He clocked flying times wherever he went but it wasn’t happening for him in Category one competitions. When doing a Star Sports kennel visit with Patrick before the Derby, he agreed that he was a bit ‘all or nothing’ but he’s been anything but since then. He’s had some close races but has battled through the round so well to get to the final; especially being a nervous dog, he has had to deal with the Derby crowds but Patrick said at the lunch yesterday that his confidence has gotten a lot better throughout. There was also a cheer from his table when he was first out the drum and gets to wear the red jacket on Saturday. Although he’s been running on for qualifying spots for most of the Derby, he is capable of a ping break and clocking a flashy time, could Saturday be the night?

⭐ Sole Mio will go from trap 2 on Saturday night despite not even having his second birthday till a week after the final. He came to Towcester after being runner-up in the Con and Anne Kirby final in Limerick and didn’t have much experience under his belt. He took to Towcester extremely well though and won his first three rounds of the Derby using his great early pace and speed once he got to the front. I was, however, impressed with him in the quarter-finals when coming third, he didn’t have things his own way, courtesy of Cheap Sandwiches smashing out of the traps and leading, but still got that crucial qualifying spot and there was no disgrace in being picked up by De Lahdedah in the semi-finals. His trainer, Peter Cronin, has had multiple Derby finalists over the years and has come close, particularly with Kildare in 2021 who was owned by Aidan Comerford – the same owner-trainer combination as Sole Mio and they will be looking to go one better this year!

⭐ In trap 3, we will see the defending champion De Lahdedah looking to be the fifth name on the list of dual English Derby winners. As mentioned, he’s been flying this year, perhaps even running better in the earlier rounds than he did last year. His draw does look slightly tricky outside Sole Mio in the final but he is proven on the big nights and, if coming out like he did in the final last year, then the draw may not matter. His Killarney based owner, Kevin O’connor, said yesterday, “He’s a different dog over here for some reason, he’s had 11 races and won 8 of them, he’s a super dog and we’re very proud of him. I’ll be very nervous all week but we’re fortunate to own him, it would mean everything to us if he could win it again – we were just hoping that he would give a good defence of his title!”

⭐ There are three wide sides in the final this year, the last of those and therefore running from trap 4 is Bombay Pat, the first of the three Graham Holland trained runners. Nicky Holland said yesterday, “He made the Irish-Derby semi-finals and on Saturday when they got to the third bend, I thought he may be making another semi-final exit but he ran well to get that qualifying spot.” Nicky also interestingly said that Bombay Pat had to go for re-schooling at the start of his career as he wasn’t coming out of the traps at all! What a story it would be if he was successful on Saturday; although he hasn’t got the ‘ping breaks’ quite sussed yet, he has a lot of all-round pace and is another who deserves his spot in the final.

⭐ The second of the Graham Holland trained wide runners in the final is Cheap Sandwiches, another dog who has took extremely well to Towcester and an absolute model of consistency – every round of the Derby there has only been 10 spots between his fastest and slowest time, incredible! You have to say he is a slightly unlucky dog though as, if it wasn’t for Bockos Diamond being around, he would probably be favourite to do the Irish/English Derby double as he came second to him in the Irish Derby final last November, just a length behind, and his only two defeats in the English Derby have been to him. He’s a superstar though and is never too far away from Bockos Diamond, particularly in the third round where there was only a short head between them, so it’s definitely possible that the form could be reversed. He did have some different preparation for his semi-final which included him being in the Holland house on the sofa watching Mean Girls, shared by Rachel Holland last week, it seemed to work!

⭐ Finally, we have the favourite lining up from trap 6, Bockos Diamond. After his incredible winning streak last year, which included the Irish Derby, he came to Towcester with a lot of expectations and pressure on his back from greyhound fans, he has not disappointed though and put any doubters to bed so far. He was exceptional in his semi-final and a repeat performance would most likely see him win again next week. In all the posts shared by the Riverside Kennels and on parade, he looks like a really chilled out character but he knows what he has to do once his feet hit the sand – this will be his toughest assignment yet though. It’s also a fantastic achievement from the Holland family to have the three in the final on Saturday, you can see how much they want to win it every year with the calibre of dogs that they bring and the dogs have run brilliant and done their part to give them a great chance of landing their third English Derby on Saturday.

⭐ The supporting card is also now out and it really is something to be very excited about. With the class of racing that there is, 9.15pm will be here in no time on Saturday night where we will find out the Derby champion. There are plenty of other finals to enjoy too and hopefully there will be a decent crowd there to cheer the dogs on.

⭐ The gates are opening from 10am on Saturday with all sorts of things going on. There will be fair rides for children and families and live music performances throughout the day – tickets are also only £10 for children which gets you unlimited fair rides and a whole day of exciting action with the racing kicking off at around 5.45pm.

🎟️ BEST VIEW IN THE HOUSE? BE IN THE HOUSE!
CHECK OUT TOWCESTER’S RANGE OF HOSPITALITY PACKAGES AND TICKET OPTIONS FOR THE 2025 STAR SPORTS GREYHOUND DERBY FINAL

⭐ De Lahdedah is not the only one trying to defend a crown on Saturday, Gary The Arb is trying to do the same thing in the Greyhound Trader final. He bounced back to winning ways last week after Belinda Green has struggled with a couple of injury issues this year, it’s worth mentioning as it’s hard to defend any title on Derby final night! He would be another popular winner.

⭐ With only one night left, Ian Fortune is still leading in the GWA tipping competition with a fantastic profit of £26.66, it’s no surprise as the Irish dogs have certainly been running well, we have five of them in the final! Gone to the Dogs presenter, Jonathan Hobbs, is currently second with others probably needing a big price winner. Anything is possible though, although not so much when you are in my position on the leaderboard!

GWA TIPPING COMPETITION: The Final Countdown

⭐ The Derby this year has definitely been a success so far, the terraces have been much busier, the food in the restaurant has had excellent reviews and the whole place looks tidy and well-presented. It’s brought even more of a buzz to the Derby which is felt as soon as you drive into the track. As Ben Keith said in his speech yesterday, we’ll be sad waking up on Sunday morning and it all being over.

But, we still have one more great night to enjoy! Do get to the track if you can to enjoy the best night of greyhound action all year. Anyone with runners, particularly those in the Derby final, good luck!

EMILY WALLIS

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