SIGNET GOOFY landed a notable family double in Sunday’s BGBF Greyhound Stud Book Trophy Final at Towcester.

A litter brother of last year’s champion Signet Denver, the John Mullins-trained and Lee Calcutt and Chris Waters-owned runner had been edged out by another littermate Signet Otis in the heats but the January 2020 son of Magical Bale and Forest Natalee made all in the semis and soon paced up into a winning lead in the £3,000 GBGB Category Two decider over 500m.

Plundering another major trophy for this prolific-winning and hugely successful litter of Kevin Hutton’s, Signet Goofy was not for catching once hitting the front and drew right away from his field to win by five and a quarter lengths from market rival Savana Top Cat (Chris Hamblin) and Singalong Stacey (Kevin Hutton). The winning time for the three-year-old was 29.21sec (-10).

Victory at the Northamptonshire track added to a good week for trainer Mullins after Swift Iconic’s Steel City Cup win at Sheffield and Liz Mort, chair of the British Greyhound Breeders Forum, on hand to make the presentation, congratulated connections who have enjoyed a superb run with Signet Goofy after his win in the 2022 Steel City Cup and a place in a number of major finals, including reaching the semi-finals of last year’s Derby.

“It was a fantastic run by Signet Goofy to give him his 36th career win,” said Mort. “He’s such a talented dog who knows his craft so well, running in sprints for a while, and actually winning our BGBF Midlands Sprint at Nottingham back in March last year. He still shows that great early pace to get away from the traps, but the advantage is having enough stamina for a 500m run!

“He’s of course one of super-brood Forest Natalee’s January 2020 litter by Magical Bale and bred by Kevin Hutton, so well done to him again.

“Kevin Boothby’s Savana Top Cat was a touch unlucky early in the final and just couldn’t get away, but finished strongly to take second, overtaking Gilbert Anderson’s and Kevin’s (Hutton) Singalong Stacey. A full year younger than Goofy, we’ll be seeing more of him I know – as we are his litter brother Romeo Command, the Derby second. He’s doing well at Central Park just now in the Kent Derby.

“Congratulations to all the owners, breeders and trainers. We had six different litters and six different trainers represented in the final, which was good. Five stud dogs were also represented, two by Droopys Sydney (Bang On Polly and Singalong Stacey), and one each by Good News (Westwell Dora), Dorotas Wildcat (Savana Top Cat), Magical Bale (Signet Goofy) and Man Twenty One (Deanridge Twowon).

“A big thanks goes to (promoter) Kevin Boothby and the Towcester team for hosting the competition again. We’re already looking forward to next year!”