SMURFS MACHINE heads into this weekend’s Coral Olympic Final at Hove as the fastest semi-final winner after an impressive trap-to-line effort on Saturday.

Completing a superb night for trainer Seamus Cahil after a double in the heats of the supporting Coral Brighton Belle with litter sisters Pocket Lola and Pocket Lulu, Smurfs Machine lined up as favourite in the second semi and made no mistake.

Last year’s English Derby finalist trapped smartly and raced to a fastest-of-the-night 4.27sec sectional, making all the running to cross the line a length clear of Faughan Rebel (Richard Yeates) in 30.08sec (normal).

The latter completed a fine return to the track by qualifying for the £10,000 decider as one of three locally trained finalists for the end-of-year 515m feature.

The first semi-final produced a cracking finish with another Yeates-trained runner Lanzo making the best of his way home until both Borna Wine (Tony Collett) and Prince Of Troy (David Mullins) proved too strong to secure places in the decider.

The former, voted October’s RPGTV/GWA Greyhound of the Month, won by three-quarters of a length from the Romford raider in 30.63sec.

The third semi-final saw a power-packed performance from the Carol Weatherall-trained Trumps Benefit as the Seasons Scaffolding Puppy Cup winner at the venue in July again showed his liking for the Sussex track.

Taking advantage of crowding among his rivals in front to turn more handier, Trumps Benefit proved too strong for the leaders, hitting the front approaching the final bend before drawing away to win by two lengths in 30.33sec.

Daniel Rankin, senior racing manager for Hove and Romford, is hugely looking forward to this weekend’s gala meeting which sees the Coral Olympic decider supported by finals of the Coral Brighton Belle (515m), George Curtis & Ballyregan Bob Memorial (740m) and the Kathleen Kis Memorial (500m).

“It should be a fantastic night’s racing,” said Rankin. “The Coral Olympic is the last Category One for the Entain tracks this year and we have increased prize-money for this year’s final to next year’s levels with £10,000 to the winner, up from £7,500, plus a minimum £1,000 to each finalist.

“We’ve also got the George Curtis & Ballyregan Bob Memorial Final, which next year will be a £10,000-to-the-winner Category One.

“We’ve tried to make Saturday a real Festival of Racing here in the south featuring a Cat One, two Cat Twos and a Cat Three.

“The Olympic final has six finalists all with a chance to win. Smurfs Machine is flying at present and, if he keeps trapping, will be hard to beat. I think the main danger is Trumps Benefit who runs Hove so well, especially if Seomra Razl shows his pace to get ahead of Smurfs Machine – maybe setting the race up for Trumps Benefit?

“The George Curtis & Ballyregan Bob Memorial Final is a really good race. Can Aayamza Royale complete a clean sweep of staying races at Hove to go with her TV Trophy and Regency wins?

“As for the Brighton Belle I think Pocket Lola looks the most likely winner. She has too much early for the rest of the field and the strong Lights Out will have plenty of ‘blockers’ in front of her which could slow her charge down.

“The Kathleen Kis Memorial Final has four local finalists and Jason Heath has a strong hand clearly with his heat winners Indesatchel and Coolavanny Class.

“Hopefully we get a good entry for the supporting races to give us four finals, eight quality opens plus a graded sweepstake final.”

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=380167&raceId=797835

Form and draw for Saturday’s Hove finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Brighton-Hove/form-guides/Sat-18th-Dec-Form-Adv.pdf