MOHICAN TARA upset the odds with victory over superstar Space Jet in Friday’s £10,000 WKH Development Services Diamond Stakes Final at Oxford.

In landing Swindon owner and trainer Sean McDonald the biggest success of his career, the December 2020 daughter of Out Of Range ASB and Swift Causeway won the inaugural running of the 847m GBGB Category One at odds of 25-1 – playing her part in a superb eight-bend decider which went to the wire.

Wota Swell Party (Kevin Hutton) cut out the early running and stretched the field out, with hot favourite Space Jet and market rival Antigua Lava both slowly away but ready to play catch-up as the race unfolded. However, both were stopped in their tracks when making their move on the first lap, Space Jet especially.

Up front, Wota Swell Party still took them along from Beach Babe (Tom Levers), but Mohican Tara now made good headway to launch her challenge down the back-straight second time and took up the running at the penultimate bend – and heaping pressure on Space Jet, who still had lots of work to do.

However, Matt Dartnall’s marathon queen and track record holder conjured up an amazing run to cut down the deficit with every stride, drawing alongside Mohican Tara on the line but just failing by the minimum distance to get to the 54.53sec (-80) winner.

The success delighted Gwent-based McDonald who told the Racing Post the TV Trophy was the long-term plan for the well-bred two-year-old, a litter sister of Swift Mellow and half-sister of Churchill Holly – both also top open-racers.

Among the first to congratulate connections was Eamon Kelly of WKH Development Services, whose company sponsored the Diamond Stakes. An owner at the Cowley circuit with both Matt Dartnall and Gordon Baker, Kelly is intending to make the marathon an annual event and was delighted how the competition unfolded, especially the final.

He said: “Well done to Sean and his team. Mohican Tara ran a great race and just got the run on Space Jet – and that’s racing. We know Space Jet’s a champion but it was a great win for a young and up-and-coming stayer and it was a brilliant race for everyone watching.”

Kelly is part-owner of Premier Greyhound Racing Golden Jacket-bound Droopys Jungle with the Dartnall team. He also has a share in highly-rated Ivanexile and owns the Baker-trained Russmur Liz, who won a supporting 450m open the race before the WKH Development Services Diamond Stakes Final on Friday.

He added: “I live about ten mins from Oxford and it’s a track I’ve been going since I was 18. Obviously it was shut for many years but I’m good friends with the guys who initially tried to re-open it before Kevin Boothby was successful. Kevin and his team are doing a great job in difficult circumstances and we’ll support the track in any way we can.

“We backed the Saturday meeting on the weekend Oxford re-opened. We’re also involved in sponsorship of the speedway there, plus we’ve now got the Diamond Stakes and plan to stage the competition again in 2024 – and hopefully for years to come.”

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=393183&raceId=906578