FABULOUS AZURRA continued her brilliant form since returning to the track with a fastest-of-the-round victory in heat six of the bet365 Empress Stakes at Towcester on Sunday – in the process landing a brilliant ninth victory on the spin.

Following an unbeaten run through the BGBF Oaks at Henlow last week, the August 2019 daughter of Magical Bale and Fabulous Artist, a sister of Derby champion Romeo Magico, made a successful and impressive return to the Northamptonshire venue in a heat of the bitches-only event.

Her previous start at Towcester had seen her beat kennelmate Thorn Falcon, the 2020 Derby winner, in the first round of the Premarket Pets Blue Riband, sponsored by winning trainer Patrick Janssens’ company, in January.

Suffering a setback then, Fabulous Azurra was off the track for six months before her Henlow return where the British Bred Derby champion continued her winning run – and now she justified red-hot favouritism in one of eight heats of the GBGB Category One at the home of the English Greyhound Derby.

Pacing up to lead into the bend, Janssens’ star was never troubled thereafter in her race against the clock, eventually drawing eight and a quarter lengths clear at the line from Makeit Beauty (Frank Gray) and Oh Cosmopolitan (John Mullins) in 29.35sec (normal).

The victory delighted her winning handler, who said: “She’s an amazing girl who’s only 13 weeks out off season. Sunday was her first 500m since January and to win nine on the bounce for a middle-distance dog tells you how good she is.

“The Empress Stakes is a great competition for the girls and I thought the track was in great order. It’s also fantastic to see bet365 sponsoring such a major race and we are definitely looking forward to next week with her and the team.”

Fabulous Lynx, also owned by Fabulous Azurra’s owner and breeder Dave Firmager, had initiated a double for the Janssens team the race before when making all on her way to a one-and-a-quarter length success in heat five over kennelmate Crossfield Lexi and Arthur Pumpkin (Patrick Godfrey) in 29.78sec.

Eric Cantillon and Mark Wallis both also landed doubles in Sunday’s bet365 Empress Stakes heats with Cantillon weighing in with Blackrose Pippa (29.64sec) and Droopys Optimal (29.49sec), while Wallis struck gold with Trumpers Lola (29.71sec) and Minnie Bullet (30.01sec).

Frank Gray’s in-form Makeit For Waz kicked off the event with a bloodless success in heat one to make it nine wins from her previous ten starts.

Racing to a fastest-of-the-round 4.10sec sectional, the local tracker drew steadily clear to win by seven lengths from Fabulous Syrah (Laurence Tuffin) and Apache Breeze (Kevin Hutton) in 29.50sec.

Fabulous Twirl landed a notable family double when winning heat seven for Laurence Tuffin’s team. This litter sister of fellow heat winner Fabulous Lynx finished best to score by a length and a half from kennelmate Tuftys Dora and My Little Ivy (Mark Wallis) in 30.10sec.

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=388716&raceId=870253