The dream of a third Greyhound Derby winner is over, Bruisers Bullet got no sort of run in Saturday's semi finals at Towcester and finished 5th behind Hiya Butt in what has so far been a brilliant event. Of course myself, our team at Imperial Kennels and owners Steve Potter and Billy Boyle were deeply disappointed after the race but on reflection we know we had a great run and in Bruisers Bullet we have found a star of the future.

 

Towcester drew another huge crowd on Saturday and were treated to some magnificent racing. The night started brilliantly for our kennel as Rubys Rascal took the opening heat of the Star Sports Stayers in a new track record of 40.89, leading from the 4th bend he again showed his love for the track and galloped right away to win by over 5 lengths. Ferryforth Fran was always behind and was well beaten and our veteran is very close to running his last race before he hangs his muzzle up. Later on in heat 3 Aayamza Breeze was eliminated when a running on 4th and a crack at the Dorando Marathon next week is looking on the cards.

 

The Star Sports Sprint heats proved successful for us as in form Shlowdown Sally took the opening heat beating kennel mate Brynoffa Jasmin by 2 lengths in 15.27. Another dog bang in form is Scolari Sound and he broke better than normal and led at the first bend to go on and win also by 2 lengths in an excellent 15.17.

 

That brought us onto the two semi finals of the Star Sports Greyhound Derby and after some blisteringly hot weather during the third round and the quarter finals it was a relief to have a pleasant and cooler night. I felt there were no excuses for Bruisers Bullet as he seemed in good shape after the previous two runs though we knew the draw was not kind to us. The tension and atmosphere in the crowd was electric as the hare came round and after a reasonable break it looked as if we could make it to the first bend in a decent pitch but in a split second our hearts sank. Trap 2 Droopys Buick rushed up our inside and trap 6 Forest Con came in and all of a sudden Bruiser was the meat in the sandwich and had nowhere to go. Forced to check he was then knocked back, he seemed to get his stride back for a second and then Buick moved into him off the second bend effectively putting him out of the race. He tried his hardest to get back in contention but had way too much ground to make up and eventually finished 5th, he was only beaten less than 5 lengths but the reality of not getting in the first three was tough to bear.

 

In truth we shouldn't really complain, Bruisers Bullet has only just turned two years old and Saturday was only his 10th race in his career, we have plenty to look forward to and we will get him thoroughly checked out before we decide if he can run in the consolation final on Saturday. Hopefully he will be fine and he can get a decent draw, something he hadn't really been lucky with for most of the Derby, then of course we have plenty of decent competitions to aim him at for the rest of the year. In the second semi final Clares Rocket was sensational winning in great style, to be honest the race nearly passed me by as I was still gutted from not qualifying 20 minutes earlier.

 

Despite not being involved in the Derby Final next Saturday promises to be one of the great nights in our sport. A huge crowd is expected at Towcester and it will be a cracking card. We have both the Stayers and the Sprint final to look forward to and we hope to have plenty of runners on the card as well, I'm sure the biggest winner will be Greyhound Racing.

 

There are just a few days left to get your entries in for our popular 5 To Follow competition. Details are up and all you have to do is pick a team with 5 from the list of greyhounds available available and you must include two bitches. We have some fabulous prizes on offer for the winner and runners up and remember it's FREE TO ENTER.

On Tuesday the quarter finals of the Star Sports Greyhound Derby took centre stage and Bruisers Bullet had to work hard to qualify in 3rd place behind Clares Rocket.

 

 

Saleen Ash ran well when a close up 3rd at Hove Thursday and on Friday at Romford we racked up another treble. Parkers Dynamite on debut won his heat of the Friday 500 Maiden in a good 23.94, Roswell Romanov recorded another facile success in a Friday 500 Stayers final winning by over 8 lengths in a good 35.17 and our old stalwart Clondoty Alex dug deep to get up on the line to win a hot 400m in 24.16 his 14th win of  2017.

 

 

As said on Saturday we saw some excellent performances at Towcester but sadly Bruisers Bullet went out at the semi final stage of the Star Sports Greyhound Derby.

 

On Sunday we did well at Henlow with four winners. Cotton Pants got the ball rolling in a 428m winning by the minimum margin in a good 25.46, Swift Henry looked like he struggled to justify odds of 1-5 on winning by 1 3/4 lengths but his 27.58 was an excellent time. Plan Ahead ran well when second in a 460m Maiden and Garryglass Teddy followed up last week's victory with another trap to line win in a fast 33.06, while Adageo Gold ran very well coming from off the pace to score by 2 1/4 lengths in 33.65.