CRAYFORD racing manager Danny Rayment is looking forward to Sunday’s semi-finals of the Jay & Kay Coach Tours Gold Collar – and is delighted new sponsor Karl Brazier has another great renewal of one of greyhound racing’s traditional Classics to enjoy.

“The Gold Collar has a great history, one of the best in the sport, so will always have a special place in my heart – I brought it here when Catford closed, of course, and am delighted Karl has taken it on now. He’s a brilliant supporter of the game.

“He and his company – Jay & Kay Coach Tours – backed our Kent St Leger for many years, but we’re delighted he’s got the Gold Collar now and it’s working well having that event plus the (Ladbrokes) Grand National for our Sunday open-race meetings.

“Everyone knows we’ve had issues with the kennel strength here and that’s forced us to make changes to the weekday schedule, but apart from one weekend the Sunday open-race cards have held up well – and we were always confident about the Gold Collar and Grand National and both got really good entries.

“There were one or two standout performances – probably Aayamza Sydney and Bangon The Clock in the Gold Collar and, well, Ricky Holloway’s team in the Grand National – but what struck me was how there was nothing much on the clock across the heats in both competitions, which means heading into the semi-finals there are plenty of chances.”

Fastest in the Jay & Kay Coach Tours Gold Collar heats was multiple big-race finalist Aayamza Sydney as John Mullins’s powerful performer drew clear steadily from the fourth turn for a runaway five and three-quarter lengths success over Empress Of Rome (Barry O’Sullivan) in a standard-setting 33.56sec (+30) for the 540m trip.

Richie Taberner’s Bangon The Clock posted the next quickest time as the improving Monmore raider dominated off the second bend in heat six, racing to a three-length victory over Bockos Sapphire (Patrick Janssens) in 33.58sec (-30).

The event kicked off as it ended in 2023 – won by Dave Lee’s Laughil Jess – with a local winner as the Darren Whitton-trained Moaning Rossi finished best to win heat one in 33.81sec (+30), while Nathan Hunt scored an impressive Gold Collar double on the night.

His Oaks runner-up Icemans Girl grabbed Slick Sabo (Ricky Holloway) late on in heat two in 33.78sec (+30), while Hunt’s Allowdale Cazoo continued her love affair with Crayford when winning heat five. Edging out Wrighty (John Mullins) in 33.60sec in the process, the Peter Bussey Memorial Trophy winner improved her Crayford record still further!

The other Gold Collar heat went to Tony Welch’s Savana Moo who dominated from the get-go in heat three for a 33.84sec (+30) success over Ballymac Kinga (Belinda Green) and Antigua Bubble, a kennelmate of the winner.

Trap draw for Sunday’s semi-finals of the Jay & Kay Coach Tours Gold Collar: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Crayford/form-guides/Crayford-Sunday-17th-November-2024-Category-1-Semi-Finals-Form.pdf