LIZ MORT, chair of the British Greyhound Breeders Forum, has congratulated Sheffield trainer Rose Draper on landing her first Category One title after Harton Whirlwind finished best to deny Romeo Astron close home in the final of the BGBF British Bred Puppy Cup at Dunstall Park on Saturday.

The first running of the Category One event at the track at Wolverhampton Racecourse, the Gymcrack finalist produced a whirlwind finish to take the £10,000 prize for the Harton Hopefuls syndicate and provide Draper with a first major title after taking over the licence from her dad Barrie last year.

Harton Whirlwind, a September 2024 son of Distant Podge and Black Racket, was bred by Simon Kneafsey but with very much a Draper influence given Barrie Draper trained both the sire and dam – with Distant Podge a winner for the kennel in the JenningsBet Puppy Classic at Nottingham in 2022.

Lining up a 9-2 chance in the 480m final, Harton Whirlwind was led into the turn by 4-9 favourite Romeo Astron (Tom Heilbron) but, while the rest of the field crowded and moved off, the Sheffield raider was able to negotiate the opening bends in a pitch and gave chase to the leader down there far side, gradually closing the gap.

Turning for home, Romeo Astron still held the advantage but Harton Whirlwind stayed on determinedly and got up close home for a neck success over the Newcastle raider in 28.54sec (-10) with Richie Taberner’s Aero Clipper crossing the line in third.

Mort said: “Well done to Rose and the team. The Draper family are steeped in greyhound history and, less than two years after taking over the licence from Barrie, Rose has landed the major title her talents deserve.

“Barrie was always going to be a hard act to follow, but Rose has deservedly achieved that with hard work, dedication – and talent.

“Harton Whirlwind ran a great race to get his nose in front of Romeo Astron at the line. We were all waiting for the result of the photo, you really couldn’t tell without it, but both pups are top quality and will have a stellar careers moving forward I’m sure. All six in the final deserved to be there and are examples of the high current quality of British breeding.

“Our thanks again go to the team at Dunstall Park – and to Arc, who are great supporters of British breeding.

“This competition was arranged at rather short notice as we needed to find an alternative quickly, but it’s an excellent track, well run, and having the hotel onsite is a blessing for those racegoers and owners who have travelled a long way.

“We’re delighted to see a British-bred race being included in Friday’s centenary celebrations at Dunstall Park – and it’s great to see Harton Whirlwind in the line-up. Connections know he runs the track well and he heads back there in tip-top form!”