COOLIOGOLD posted the fastest clock in Saturday’s semi-finals of the Premier Greyhound Racing Puppy Derby at Monmore as the Maxine Locke-trained runner impressed again in the £20,000-to-the-winner competition.

A winner of five of his six races, the May 2021 son of Laughil Blake and Jays Gold was foot-perfect from lids-rise in the third semi, racing to a 4.35sec split on his way to a two-length success over White Clover (Tom Heilbron) and 28.27sec (-30) victory for the 480m trip at the Wolverhampton venue.

The success delighted Romford trainer Locke, who said: “It’s lovely to make the final and great for the kennel and his owners. He was bought as a nice dog for Romford but has become more than that in many ways and we’re delighted with how he’s progressed – and he’s shown he can do it from both ways.

“He stayed on well to win his heat after a good battle, but is probably best off the front when he traps and that was the case on Saturday. He starts well and stays well and hopefully gets it right on Saturday, although it’s a really good final and they all have a chance. I suppose it depends who gets it right on the night.

“Either way, it’s just great to see him running well. He’s come back after a break in good form, has strengthened up and matured. We knew he was quick and doing 23.79sec on your debut at Romford is pretty special, but then seeing him win at Towcester, first in a trial stakes and then a heat of the (RPGTV) Puppy Derby, showed us more.

“We had to withdraw him from Towcester because of a niggle in his back-end but that was probably a blessing in disguise given the bad weather and all the others things going on around that time. It certainly didn’t do him any harm.”

Bradys Bullet, a July 2021 son of Good News and Early Rise, also maintained his unbeaten record in the event, albeit not in the circumstances connections would have wished after longtime leader Churchfield Syd (Richard Rees) suffered a muscle injury when a long way front in the first semi-final.

The eventual winner, trained by Belinda Green, had missed the break badly but moved into contention when the field crowded at the first bend and was battling for qualification before misfortune fell trackmate Churchfield Syd. Bradys Bullet came through to win by four and a quarter lengths from Clona Uriel (Derek Knight) in 28.94sec (-30).

Links Maverick showed impressive early pace once again when winning the second semi-final and now lines up in Saturday’s GBGB Catefory One final aiming to land a famous double given the May 21 son of Grangeview Ten and Havana Lottie has already won the Arc Northern Puppy Derby at Newcastle.

Tom Heilbron’s dog blitzed to a 4.30sec sectional on his way to a decent advantage, albeit in a rousing finish both Fearsome Quest (John Marriott) and Rioja Joey (Kevin Hutton) closed on the run for home – Newcastle raider Links Maverick winning by a head and the same from Fearsome Quest in 28.39sec (-30).

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=394786&raceId=920100

Form and draw for Saturday’s finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Monmore/form-guides/Saturday-18th-March-Finals.pdf