TRAINING honours in the heats of the BresBet Steel City Cup at Sheffield on Saturday went to Angela Harrison as the Newcastle handler landed a treble with wins for Brynoffa Lloyd, Droopys Dazzler and Hardy Rebel.

First up was Brynoffa Lloyd in heat two as the June 2019 whelp led at the first bend on his way to a three-length victory over favourite Headford Flash (Kevin Hutton), the latter representing last year’s successful kennel. The winning time was 28.71sec (+20).

The Harrison treble was completed by Droopys Dazzler (28.74sec +20) and Hardy Rebel (28.99sec +20) who won heats four and six respectively, the former making all a four-length romp, while the latter produced a strong-running effort to strike gold in his heat.

Fastest heat time was set in the opening heat by Duke De Janerio as Gary Ferguson’s dog was always handy before reeling in longtime leader Ballyboss Baz to win by three-quarters of a length in what proved a standard-setting 28.66sec (+20) for the 500m trip.

Signet Ace, already a winner of the Winter Derby and Select Stakes for Kevin Hutton, began his campaign for another GBGB Category One victory in heat five, making all from the running-on Balterio (Mark Wallis) in 28.70sec (+20).

Look Out boosted the local challenge for the Owlerton Stadium’s main four-bend event with a powerful victory in heat three as the Barrie Draper-trained two-year-old hit the front at the third bend to deny favourite Potent Touch (Angela Harrison) in 28.91sec.

David Perry, a former venue director at Sheffield and now managing director at BresBet, said as new sponsors of the Steel City Cup the Sheffield firm were delighted with the competitive nature of the Owlerton Stadium annual.

He said: “There was nothing really between all six heat winners and that was borne out by the times recorded. Well done to Angela Harrison’s kennel for their three winners and, with four semi-final qualifiers in all, they hold a strong hand.

“Signet Ace is a major big-race winner twice over already and oozed class for Kevin Hutton in his heat once again, while it’s always good to have a strong local challenge – there are a few through to next week’s semi-finals – and I know Barrie Draper’s Look Out winning was a popular result.

“We were keen on running the Steel City Cup across three Saturday nights and hopefully another decent crowd at the track will see some cracking open-race action – and for the connections involved we were delighted to offer minimum of £1,000 for all finalists.

“We here at BresBet are also supporting a two-run British-bred maiden competition which gives trainers and owners of British-bred greyhounds a chance to prepare for the British Bred Derby back at Sheffield later in the year.”

 

*Trap draw for Saturday’s BresBet Steel City Cup semi-finals:-

First semi: 1 Nipsey Hustle, 2 Forest Gold, 3 Cascade King (m), 4 Hardy Rebel (m), 5 Pacemaker Ted (w), 6 Candy Man (w).

Second semi: 1 Signet Ace, 2 Duke De Janerio, 3 Acomb Jenny (m), 4 Look Out (m), 5 Balterio (w), 6 Shady Beau (w).

Third semi: 1 Brynoffa Lloyd, 2 Droopys Dazzler, 3 Ballyboss Baz (m), 4 Potent Touch (m), 5 Million Wink (m), 6 Headford Flash (w).