DARBYS DELIGHT posted the fastest clock as he initiated a brilliant double for Newcastle trainer Tom Heilbron in the heats of the Arena Racing Company Grand Prix over 640m at Sunderland on Friday.

Lining up in heat one, the recent Queen Mother Cup winner at Sheffield notched a four-timer as the July 2019 son of Over Limit and Kittys Box powered to the front off the last bend, after not the clearest of runs, to cross the line two and a quarter lengths clear of Goldies Jennings (Robert Galloway) and Skywalker Stan (Ted Soppitt) in 39.39sec (+30)

The Heilbron double was completed by Links Top Gun in heat two as the recently stepped up in trip April 2021 daughter of Eden The Kid and Mean Beauty paced up to lead into the bend and was always in front before scoring by two lengths from Longacres Bullet (Pat Doocey) and kennelmate Ballymac Moment in 39.45sec (+30).

A delighted winning trainer Heilbron said: “Darbys Delight just continues to astound me. I didn’t think Sunderland would suit his running style as he hits a flat spot right about where they hit the bend – and that’s exactly where he got a large chunk of trouble on Friday

“Turning for home first time I thought he had a big ask just to qualify, but to go and win the race was phenomenal, especially off the back of his victory at Sheffield in almost identical fashion. He’s running really well and we couldn’t ask any more of him just now

“As for Links Top Gun, who we also think plenty of, he finally got it right at the boxes and I knew he’d relish the extended trip. He’s really young so could well be improving still.

“The draws for Friday’s semi-finals have not been great to them – both Top Gun and Darbys Delight are in the same semi – but with a slow starter inside him hopefully Top Gun can blast out and Darbys Delight also might out-trap the trap four runner. That way he’d hopefully turn trouble-free and be able to pick the field off.

“We’ve also got Ballymac Moment in the first semi-final but he’ll probably need luck in running to qualify, although overall I’d be very disappointed if we don’t have at least one representative in the final.”

The Savva Roberts-trained Onyago Gill struck late on in heat three as the December 2020 daughter of Definate Opinion and Jumeirah Lolls finished best to deny Westforth Queen (George Stark) and Sporting Cowgirl (Yvonne Bell) by a short head and half a length in 39.85sec (+30) for the six bends at the Wearside venue.

Droopys Soldier once again underlined his versatility when winning at his fourth track as the Michael Hurst-trained September 2019 son of Out Of Range ASB and Droopys Blossom led off the second bend on the way to a length and the same victory over Mark Wallis’s pair of Coral Essex Vase champion Aayamza Magic and Coonough Crow in 39.47sec (+30).

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=395775&raceId=928374

Trap draw for Friday’s semi-finals of the Arena Racing Company Grand Prix: https://www.sunderland-greyhounds.co.uk/racing/results/