GREYHOUND DERBY 2026: Kaan’s 3rd Round Betting Report

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

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STARSPORTS.BET GREYHOUND BETTING

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Well, this is all suddenly going a bit fast, writes KAAN HUGHES.

I actually love the opening two rounds because there is so much action, you just have lots to watch and take in. As we progress, all I start to think is, we will soon be crowning our champion, and that’s it for another year!

Enough of that, this is the third round of the 2026 Star Sports Greyhound Derby, and we have eight heats tonight where the eventual derby winner will have strut their stuff.

The weeks are going rather quickly, the weather is still chilly, and the forecast doesn’t look great throughout the night, just give us a chance whoever controls the weather up there! What else has happened in the past week? Well last week on arrival home from the second round a cat was near our house meowing and I made him jump as I dropped a bag out of the car. Move forward a few days and said cat has decided to attach himself between us and our neighbour as his adopted families. I was racing at Fontwell this week only to get a call to say it had not stopped all evening. Getting home in the dark, little did I expect him to be sat on our doorstep. I’m no cat lover, (I actually had an allergy to them when I was young) but he is very cute, all black and no markings. Looks the type of thing that would turn into a human in a movie. Anyway, I forgot my gilet, went back to the car, forgot to shut the door, next minute he’s in our porch. After a few more days and I know you shouldn’t feed a random cat, but the poor thing looked a little hungry and not being able to get him scanned to see if he is owned, we still have our friend that we’ve named Billy. We have discussed a few options of why he is here. He has lost the plot and thinks we own him, he was transported accidentally on a delivery drivers van, he was dumped, or a neighbour has gone away and he’s been locked out. Either way, he loves a sausage roll and we shall keep you posted. Maybe this is the new version of the movie, ‘A Street Cat Named Bob’, albeit a slightly different story.

Right, where was I, the opening heat, Lennies Eddie and Swords Style opened joint favourite, and it wasn’t long before the busy crowd let us know what may be in stall for us this evening when the rage for Swords Style saw us red for around £7000 in a five runner race, we saw bits and pieces for the other and we knew the rest were good winners. As lids rose we feared the worst when the strapping fawn Swords Style raced away quickly from the boxes, what shocked us all was the speed of both ‘Lennies’ to get to him by the corner which caused him a little trouble to shuffle him back which saw him in trouble and exit the competition. A good start but there is a long way to battle through yet.

Heat two saw last week’s eye catcher who nobody could fail to miss that had he not caused all sorts of problems at the corner would have won as far as he liked, that was Gaytime Clyde if you were wondering, and maybe consider something else if you needed to consider who it was. It took a while for the ring to get busy in this one, but Gaytime Clyde drifting saw a £2000 bet at 8/11, followed by a few three figure bets at 4/6, until we’d seen enough and wanted to get some others in, but an avalanche of business came our way when Goldcash Warrior saw us strike the same stakes but averaging 9/4 suddenly Gaytime Clyde was a small winner., the former a loser for around £5000, the rest all good winners, a book we liked. Once again, Gaytime Clyde did not trap, does he ever trap? But he showed enough zip into the corner to skip clear to roars of the crowd, and the first ‘good thing’ of the evening was going further clear into the back straight chased home last by the bogey. Betting without the front two, the dog who continues to do nothing flashy but find himself there, Swift Magnison was a monkey loser and managed to hold that spot. A healthy start and it could have been such a different scenario.

Up next heat three, Mr Professional, Proper Heiress. We want to lay him, we always want to lay him, but he always finds a way. The first bet of note £1000 at 9/2 Lennies Dynamic, now we’ve got something to bet up to. Nothing of note the jolly, but we have him a £300 loser, the bottom for around £2k the rest handy winners. Betting without, an unbelievable spread of business, every dog backed and a split of opinion. Donishall Sam the £3500 loser, Priceless Romeo £245 loser, the other 3 strong winners. Lids up, Heiress away well, Harvey in one the goalkeeper also away, he can’t get round from here can he, of course he does, he always finds away, racing down the back and no dangers, the crowd giving it large. Only a small loser here, but what’s happening behind him, Priceless Romeo has finished second. In the scheme of things, we’ve done £500 on the race, and it could have been a lot worse had the placings reversed themselves.

Heat four, Ballymac Duffle the next ‘cert’ as they say of the evening. The outright favourite, the track record holder. 2/7 on the boards and we have taken £769 at the price and fielded £9 elsewhere, maybe they are topping up refreshments? We bet without and it’s an interesting book behind, I lay the outsider Salacres Amara at 25/1, Rebel Alaksa a biscuit tin loser, the rest winners. Away they go, well most of them do, but Ballymac Duffle is caught napping, oh my, the short priced jolly is out the back, he’s in trouble, he’s found trouble, what’s he made of? Well, I’ll tell you what he’s made of. Pure class, the kid whose just turned two has officially adulted, he has switched on the sat nav, weaved through a field, lengths to still make up on the strong tracking pro Slick Sentinel down the straight, and eaten up the ground to get up, or has he, yes he has, what a run, the crowd fall silent in admiration and pure shock, what have we just witnessed? He’s a sensation, and we are witnessing it. Back to the betting, not that it really matters but we literally won £100 on the race. I’ve bought his race jacket out of the winnings as a memento.

Heat five, the race that capture the audience last week when the draw was made. Some leading fancies are all in together. Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts as what you are about to read may cause viewers to see their jaws hit the table and the room start spinning out of control. Is it derby final night? No, but it feels like it. Me and Lofty have yet to have a drink and I’m doubling up in pain with the fact I haven’t had a wee, need a drink and my kidneys are screaming at me. First bet in the book £2000 @ 5/2 Scooby The Lady, second bet in the book £2000 @ 7/2 Underground Gold, £500 Glengar Silent at 7/2, Glengar Kane strong at 5/4 and plenty of small business, £200, £300, and so on, hang on, what hasn’t been bet, Glengar Silent, one of the outright favs at the start of the event, hold on to your hats, £2000 @ 7/2. Jeez what’s it looking like, I don’t know was the response, just keep laying. Plenty of other business, for the jolly. A few minutes until post time, and from out of the clouds a swarm of good business for Scooby The Lady doubling the early takes. At post time, we have Glengar Kane the favourite winning us £7500, Scooby The Lady losing £7800, Underground Gold, you remember that big bet? Well, he wins us £3400, Glengar Silent wins £173, Ballymac Iroko for the lot, someone had £22 on. This is some race, blimey, what business. Sit back and enjoy. Lids rise, and suddenly my sentiments chance, sit back and swallow your pride, Scooby The Lady has flown the lids and Glengar Kane has made a complete hash of it, and is last into the corner but paces up with Underground Gold, Kane forced to check off the second loses all chance, also hampering the former. Silent and Iroko nowhere to be seen, great! Gold starts to go again, and Kane causes him more problems, staying on is Golf though and Scoobys stride is shortening, but not quick enough and she holds on to win by three quarters of a length. Blimey he’s ran some race, anyway no time to worry, we’ve got a lot of paying out to do, oh hang on, there is already a customer stood there waiting, the dogs are not even at the pick-up.

Heat six is upon us and the final leg of the ‘banker treble’, Epic Ace goes on parade at 2/5, very short, but my word wasn’t he good last week. A quiet betting heat all in or so I thought until we were holding over £5k the jolly at around 1/2 and had laid nothing else. Betting without was very good and again saw us lay a decent spread of dogs but the main fancy was Texas Jack who was backed from 6/4 down and was a £2500 loser. As they raced away Epic Ace, not a smash, but such good pace into the corner and the roars went up, there is no looking back, he is dazzling them into the drizzle and gloomy skies, the track record will go here we remarked on the joint, and that it did as he won by a long away in a new flash 28.14. Following him home was Bubbly Hogan to our delights, so levels across the board, giveth one hand, taketh the other I remarked to Lofty, which he rather liked, it takes a lot to get those sorts of giggles out of the big fella!

The penultimate greyhound derby heat, heat seven. We want to lay Hackney Corner, we have to keep going after him. I like Ballymac Ralf, but they’re on the board and there to be bet. Lots of three figure bets Hackney Corner, at 6/4, but £700 at 2/1 Ballymac Ralf starts to see a ripple until wallop, bet after bet after bet after bet. Lumps of big bets, and they are all on at 2/1, We have taken £6k at around the price and not laid much else, one bogey and it’s clear to see. Betting without the front two I tempt them in with 7/4 Kranky Drake, he can’t get as good a run this week. Whoosh, Ballymac Ralf has come away on elastic, the best I’ve seen tonight, and Scooby The Lady was good, but this, electric. The outright bogey second, we are staring down the barrel, I don’t like this feeling, we’ve not been here this year, and we were starting to admire our position! Normally we are giving chase at this point, not sending in the night watchman! Ralf wins as he likes, Hackney Corner second. I fear the worst as they cross the line for third it’s desperate, it’s the difference between doing another £2k or winning £1800, so a near £4k swing, the difference between the price in Hash Browns at the A43 McDonalds compared to the Newbury roundabout McDonalds (see Loftys twitter for reference to these, he went viral). Sole Focus had hung on, and we get a result if you can say that after Ralf had just won, the less said the better.

The final heat of the evening and it’s been a pleasure so far, we made be doing our money as many of you will love to hear, but the class of greyhound we have witnessed is why this competition is unmatched. The thrill of seeing the very best from both sides of the Irish see do battle is what every breeder, owner or trainer dreams of doing. A fascinating final heat and we see little bits of money for all runners early, nothing of note until a hedged £800 from another bookie on Ballymac Stud at 7/2, then a couple of large bets fall in and we look to see we have Salacres Lock Up losing us around £10k. Betting without the prices will always be dependant on other factors and who you are betting without, Salacres Lock Up was popular behind as you’d expect being bet all in, and then £1000 at 13/8 Strike It Skye as they were loading came over my shoulder. Droopys Aladdin comes away in his usual fashion and leads around, Ballymac Deniro showing once again good speed, but the lady herself Strike It Skye was handy once again and tracking nicely in behind, she took charge at the third and fourth to lead and pull away. That old saying again, giveth one hand (all in), taketh the other (betting without). A small winner across the books but could have been much better.

I’d also like to add that a couple of customers came up to me this evening. I am utterly useless with names, name badges would be appropriate, so apologies for not naming them in here. They were very complimentary about this report, which is always good to hear, but also a couple were very grateful to the fact we were offering a different betting market, betting without. It’s our pleasure and we hope to see more of you at the track to do business in the coming weeks.

The Derby may have finished, but the Barking Mad TV Trophy final was about to take place and it looked a two dog race on paper, the champion Mongys Wild v the young pretender Droopys Rated, 4/7 v 6/4, the money was split across the two literally the near enough the same stakes. I bet without the front two and went evens each of two Innfield Fifi Ivy and Bubbly Evie and shouted take your pick! They all wanted to be on Innfield Fifi and even what I thought had been classed as keeping her on side. Sadly, the evening ended on a sad note when Mongys Wild broke down. Droopys Rated went on to win the TV Trophy. It left me a little deflated, nobody likes to see any dog get hurt, and even more so when he’s one of your favourite dogs. I have heard he is made comfortable and of course is under the utmost care and being seen to by specialist vets and will be given the best of care and more will be known after the weekend. So, we send the boy a big sloppy kiss and wish him the speediest of recoveries.

So that’s it for another week, it’s been emotional, even more so when I got to the A43 and they’d shut the round about ‘because people don’t travel on a Saturday night’. Well I do pal, we don’t all work 9-5! We roll on to the quarter finals next Saturday, but before then we have a lot of horse racing action to attend before that, but if you are in attendance, do come and find us.

Take care one and all.

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