IAN WALTON, Newcastle’s general manager, is delighted this year’s Arena Racing Company Northern Puppy Derby attracted Irish interest with two Robert Gleeson-trained runners entered – and Gleeson was among the winners in Thursday’s heats.

After his Droopys Deploy had qualified behind John Flaherty’s 33-1 chance Greenwell Crazy in a trouble-marred heat one, Gleeson later sent out Toolmaker Quick to win heat five in impressive style and Walton believes both runners have chances outright given likely improvement for their first looks.

He said: “I thought both of Robert’s runners showed exceptional gears, especially Droopys Deploy. It was a messy contest unfortunately – it can happen with pups, however much they might have track experience or not – but in terms of the Irish dogs both will improve for the look am sure. They’re actually in against each other in the semis now.

“Overall I’d say Deliverooo was the most eye-catching. He ended up being fastest on the night and you sense there’s even more to come from Tom’s (Heilbron) dog. He’s one of a pretty strong home team we have for the Northern Puppy Derby, although it was good to see a few trainers making the journey to take the Geordies on!”

The £12,500-to-the-winner Category One kicked off with a crowded contest which saw rank outsider Greenwell Crazy escaping crowding behind to race into a long lead, although Irish raider Droopys Deploy (Robert Gleeson) stayed on in eye-catching style to go down by just a length behind the 29.20sec (normal) winner.

Local hope Swift Bullseye struck for Ray Hale in heat two, winning the battle of the early pacers with Annadown Alice (Jimmy Fenwick) and crossing the line a length clear of the rallying runner-up in 28.85sec in a heat in which hot favourite Ballymac Kobe (Maxine Locke) was eliminated, crowded out of contestation early.

However, there was better fortune for the latter’s kennelmates as Yahoo Maizy and Ballymac Axel then struck gold in heats three and four respectively, both scoring impressively for Romford handler Maxine Locke.

First up was English Puppy Oaks winner Yahoo Maizy who raced away past halfway for a four-and-a-quarter length win over Sunnyside Trish (Ted Soppitt) in 28.62sec (normal), before Ballymac Axel made ground down the back before coming through strongly to score by half a length from Westside Butch (Angela Harrison) in 28.63sec (norma).

Toolmaker Quick scored an Irish victory in heat five as Robert Gleeson’s red-boxed runner used the inside line to best effect to escape a crowding pack in behind before racing clear for a seven-length win over Nothing Mad (Jimmy Fenwick) in 28.87sec (normal).

Saving the best for last was heat six winner Deliverooo who struck for Newcastle handler Tom Heilbron in a fastest-of-the-night 28.53sec (normal) as the son of Ballymac Bolger grabbed leader Sunnyside Jayden (Ted Soppitt) and skipped clear before hitting the line a length and three-quarters in front of running-on Ballymac Lucia (Maxine Locke).

Trap draw for Thursday’s Arena Racing Company Northern Puppy Derby semi-finals:

First semi: 1 Ballymac Lucia (Maxine Locke), 2 Greenwell Crazy (John Flaherty), 3 Inca Lexie (m) (Phil Barlow), 4 Sunnyside Trish (m) (Ted Soppitt), 5 Annadown Alice (m) (Jimmy Fenwick), 6 Greenwell Tyson (w) (John Flaherty).

Second semi: 1 Westside Butch (Angela Harrison), 2 Toolmaker Quick (Robert Gleeson), 3 Ballymac Axel (m) (Maxine Locke), 4 Sunnyside Jayden (m) (Ted Soppitt), 5 Droopys Deploy (m) (Robert Gleeson), 6 Deliverooo (w) (Tom Heilbron).

Third semi: 1 Broadway Shay (Sean White), 2 Nothing Mad (m) (Jimmy Fenwick), 3 Fraser (m) (Peter Richardson), 4 Yahoo Maizy (m) (Maxine Locke), 5 Innfield Pepe (w) (Tom Heilbron), 6 Swift Bullseye (w) (Ray Hale).