The £5,000-to-the-winner decider played the chief supporting role to the Premier Greyhound Racing Golden Jacket Final and a trap four double in the main events at the Kent venue – later completed by Bellmore Sally – was initiated by the August 2020 daughter of Ballymac Bolger and Dolce Vita who was foot-perfect on the day.

Breaking well before pacing to lead her field, Antigua Sugar was well on her way to landing a third big-race title after victory in last year’s Stadium Bookmakers Juvenile Classic at Towcester and the greyhoundtrader.com Stakes at the Northamptonshire track.

Stretching well clear, the two-year-old never looked in danger as she grabbed gold for Imperial Kennels and owners Nic and Amanda Jeal, winning by ten and half lengths from Peejays Forever (Jason Gornall), the Gold Collar runner-up over C&D, and early leader Lostrigg Ajay (Tony Collett). The winning time was a fast 33.44sec (+20).

The victory added another ‘Peter Bussey’ to 13-time champion trainer’s haul having sent out the winner of the 540m event for seven years in a row from Aero Joker (2012) through to Bridge Bandit (2013), Aayamzamodel (2014), Jimmy Nailed On (2015), Swift Whirlwind (2016), Ribble Aon (2017) and Saleen Ash (2018).

Therefore an unbeaten run through the three-round competition for Antigua Sugar landed Wallis an eighth victory in the competition staged in memory of the man described as ‘Mr Crayford’ given his work at the old stadium and at the existing site as foreman, head groundsman, electrician, hare controller and co-founder of the Friends of Crayford Retired Greyhounds (FOCRG), the local greyhound home-finders.

Winning trainer Wallis said: “It’s fantastic to win the race again – it became quite a standing joke that we’d look for the dates of the race at the turn of the year trying to win it again. We’ve actually had a few finalists since winning it in 2018, but it’s great to win it again – especially with this bitch, who’s just top-class and a real kennel favourite.

“Emily (Wallis, daughter) loves her and paraded her on the day and, while we were both slightly worried about the draw in trap four, she’s gone straight to the bend and just run her race – and we know she’s got so much class about her.

“We might have had two runners in the Golden Jacket final, but she could have joined them at one stage. We were definitely thinking about it, stepping her up to 714m, but I just think in the colder weather that might have been too much. I’d be more confident of her staying those sorts of trips in the warmer weather, but we’ve got to be delighted with this.

“You’d say the Coral Coronation Cup at Romford would be the next target for her. She’s in great form and doing Nic and Amanda (Jeal) proud. It was also great to hear she’d won the Greyhound Trader Greyhound of the Year award for dogs sold at their auctions.”

Result: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=394079&raceId=913889