DROOPYS CLUE started his Premier Greyhound Racing St Leger as he ended the last one as the reigning champion, aiming to become the first greyhound to land back-to-back wins in the stayers’ Classic, producing a faultless front-running display in the heats of the famous race at a very wet Perry Barr on Saturday.

Lining up in the penultimate heat of a 12-race all-open race card which was delayed well over an hour due to torrential and heavy rain mid-meeting, Seamus Cahill’s Greyhound of the Year was soon in top gear and proceeded to draw clear of his rivals, winning by over 15 lengths and stopping the clock in 42.74sec (-30) for the 710m trip.

Diane Henry’s Clona Curly finished second here to make it through to Saturday’s semi-finals and the kennel will be doubly handed in the semis after Savana Jackpot’s heat four success in a competition in which they provided a close-up second and third in 2022 with Savana Volcano and Savana Ruinart behind Havana Lover.

Well away, the recent Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic finalist – behind Droopys Clue, incidentally – established a decent lead but came back to his field on the rain-softened surface before holding on by three-quarters of a length from the staying-on pair of Kevin Hutton’s Hopiehopiehopie (ex Ballymac Katie) and Move Over Ogie (Matt Dartnall).

The winning time was 43.39sec (-45), a time matched by Tom Heilbron’s Toddys Thunder in heat two (43.39sec) as he made all to win by four and three-quarter lengths from running-on marathon winner Magical Luna (Kim Billingham).

The event, supported by heats of the M Lambe Construction Birmingham Cup in Memory of Michael Lambe Senior, kicked off with a British-bred success as Greenwell Ange struck for John Flaherty on the step up in trip in heat one, winning in 43.29sec (-45) from dual Category One winner Coonough Crow (Mark Wallis) and Haka Carlo (Jason Heath)

The other St Leger heats were won by Paul Donovan’s Premier Greyhound Racing Golden Jacket finalist Tuono Bella who led before the winning line first time before holding the staying on Trickycinderella (Robert Holt) in 43.79sec (-45), while John Lambe’s Hurry Up Jordan cheered the locals with a popular victory in heat six.

Late into the Saturday night by this stage, last year’s Arc Laurels third and this year’s Queen Mother Cup runner-up grabbed longtime leader Lively Lauren (Matt Dartnall) rounding the last turn before holding the strong-staying Mrs Doyle (Roy Peckham) by half a length in (44.22sec) in a blanket finish to the finale.

“It was certainly a long night after the weather delay – a good few of us and the trackstaff didn’t leave the stadium much before midnight!” said racing manager Martin Seal, “but it was cracking racing despite the horrendous weather.

“It was a Herculean effort by the trackstaff to have the circuit in good shape following the deluge and I’d say that all those that qualified ran well, particularly given conditions were particularly testing for those racing over 710m. Indeed, on reflection, I amended the going allowance for race four, won by Toddys Thunder, to -45.

“Droopys Clue was obviously the star of the show in the heats. It doesn’t quite seem a year ago when we saw him as a young dog comfortably win the St Leger having gone close in the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic at Monmore. This time he’s arrived as a winner of that competition, so definitely loves this time of the year.

“He’s got trap one in the semis which connections will I’m sure be happy with, although Haka Carlo next door has plenty of class , too, and hopefully conditions will be far better this coming Saturday than this weekend. Hopefully that’s behind us now!”

Trap draw for Saturday’s Premier Greyhound Racing St Leger semi-finals: https://www.perrybarr-greyhounds.co.uk/racing