MARTIN SEAL, Dunstall Park racing manager, is delighted to see the Arena Racing Company Scurry Gold Cup back as a Category One event with the famous event reaching the semi-final stage on Saturday.

Three semi-finals of the sprinters’ Classic – first staged at the old Clapton Stadium, London, in 1928 – will be hosted by the track at Wolverhampton Racecourse alongside the Premier Greyhound Racing Oaks semis with the first two in each semi – for the Scurry and Oaks – making the final and setting up a huge Category One double-header at Dunstall Park on Saturday week (October 24).

Seal said: “I was delighted with the entry for the Arc Scurry. In fact I couldn’t have asked for more in all honesty and, as a result, the upgrade to Cat One status has been fully justified.

“The raft of winning times in the heats around the 15.50sec to 15.60sec mark underlines that this is a vintage renewal of a great competition, make no mistake.

“A decent spread of seeds lends further weight to the view that Shadow Storm’s track record could well be under threat – maybe by himself!”

In last weekend’s heats, the Kevin Hutton-trained Towcester Northamptonshire Sprint winner Magical Jason (15.50sec) set the standard, while in terms of C&D form, the victory of Stuart Tighe’s Dunstall Dash winner Good Acclaim (15.62sec) was also noteworthy.

Other heat winners were Michelle Brown’s Roanna Mamba (16.17sec), Mark Wallis’s Ballinakill Liam (15.66sec), and the aforementioned Richard Rees-trained duo of GBGB Sprinter of the Year Shadow Storm (15.60sec) and Avarua Lake (15.62sec).