ANNADOWN WARRIOR produced a career-best run when setting a new track record in winning the Arena Racing Company Puppy Classic Final at Nottingham

On a night the Colwick Park venue also staged the Arc-backed Select Stakes and Select Stayers, Maxine Locke’s runner added his name to a list of young stars to have won the £12,500-to-the-winner Category One, but with the added achievement of rewriting the record books in terms of new best figures for the 500m trip.

Always in command in the decider off the back of a flying 4.85sec split, the September 2024 son of Grangeview Ten and Annadown Cutie was soon on his way to a length and three-quarters win over an Irish-trained pair of litter brothers in Daleroad Magic and Magical Marty, both trained by Patrick Guilfoyle, in 28.93sec (+40).

The winning time was two spots inside Proper Heiress’s previous best set in last year’s Premier Greyhound Racing Eclipse Final and sealed a magnificent victory for the JR Racing Syndicate-owned youngster in what was his last race as a puppy, achieved as it was on the last day of August!

“It was perfect timing for sure,” said winning trainer Locke, for whom victory consolidated her position at the top of the Trainer of the Year standings.

“It was a great run and he deserved to win after running second at Towcester in two big races,” added the Central Park handler of the Juvenile Classic runner-up and PCS Legal Puppy Trophy second on Derby final night. “Breaking the track record is a bonus, but shows you what a fast dog he is when he gets it right, which he did in the semis and final.”

Locke praised the team at her Wickford base for continuing to produce winners – and big-race winners at that – during a year in which health issues have forced her to take a back-seat in terms of the day-to-day operation, but she remains very much at the helm in term of big-race plans for the talented team at Bonville Kennels.

Nottingham general manager David Evans congratulated all the winners on a special Bank Holiday Monday card at the East Midlands venue, reserving special praise for the trio of big-race winners in the main events, commenting:

“Well done to Paul (Young) and Maxine (Locke) for their wins with Underground Gold (Select Stakes) and Annadown Warrior (Puppy Classic), and also to Craig Morris whose Radical Story won the (Arc) Select Stayers and, of course, we wish Paul’s Droopys Rated the speediest of recoveries which was a low point of an otherwise brilliant night here.”