PATRICK JANSSENS was at the double in the semi-finals of the Coral Olympic at Hove on Saturday.

Wins in their semis for both Deelish Frankie (pictured) and Lautaro give the former champion trainer two chances in Saturday’s £10,000-to-the-winner GBGB Category One, albeit Liz McNair will have three finalists after her Feora Noel also grabbed gold in the third semi-final.

First up was Deelish Frankie as the July 2020 son of Ballymac Bolger and Ballymac Belle, winner of the Premier Greyhound Racing Puppy Derby at Monmore in March, landed a trap-to-line success in a fastest-of-the-night 29.74sec (+10).

Soon in charge, the two-year-old took chief advantage of Fromposttopillar missing the break to lead into the first bend before going on to score by two and a quarter lengths from Liz McNair’s staying-on RPGTV Cowley Puppy Collar winner.

Lautaro scored a double for the Janssens team in the second semi-final, which produced the best finish of the night.

Bonjour Bullet (Belinda Bullet) led up here but in a race where all six runners had a chance of winning it was the February 2020 son of Droopys Sydney and Boom Time who came through best to hit the front on the run for home to win in 30.13sec (+10).

A Derby semi-finalist at Towcester, Lautaro was always handy before launching a winning challenge down the back straight and come through to score by a head from Droopys Rural (Richard Rees), who provides local interest in Saturday’s final.

The third semi saw Liz McNair land a one-two as Feora Noel proved too strong for leader Chasing Tommytee (Paul Marchant) before crossing the line a length and a half clear of running-on kennelmate Havana Bale Out in 29.93sec.

Victory for the December 2019 son of Droopys Sydney and Feora Inish, not to mention the performance of Havana Bale Out, delighted Rab McNair, husband of the winning trainer, given the Ashford, Kent, set-up have three Coral Olympic finalists.

He said: “The team all ran great. You know what we think of ‘Postie’ (Fromposttopillar) but I’ll also tell you he’s still learning the game. He’s against all-aged for the first time and it’s different for them, but we know he’s got the class.

“Hopefully he can just get his trapping right in the final – and I suppose it’s the same with the other two. Noel did well to reach the (Ladbrokes) Gold Collar even though Crayford doesn’t really suit him but Hove clearly does.

“Bale Out is coming back to herself now. We left her off for a month after Kent Derby final night (second to Deelish Frankie in the £2,000 Jack Clark Birthday 500) and she needed the run in the heats. She ran better in the semis and will improve again.

“It’s a great final and hopefully rounds off a good year for us after a slower start than we wanted! The dogs have done great and we’ll hope for the best on Saturday.”

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=391939&raceId=896227

Trap draw for Saturday’s finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Brighton-Hove/form-guides/Sat-17th-Dec-Form-Adv.pdf