LIZ MORT, chair of the British Greyhound Breeders Forum (BGBF), has congratulated Phil Milner after last year’s winning trainer – and defending champion Keefil Rocky – both kicked off their bid for back-to-back BGBF British Bred Derby wins in the best possible style at Towcester.

Milner posted a double as his Keefil Goose, also a finalist last year at Sheffield, posted the fastest time of the six heats with an all-the-way 28.94sec (-10) victory in heat five, followed less than 20 minutes later by kennelmate Keefil Rocky who began his defence of the title with another impressive display as he led off the second bend for a 29.19sec victory.

The other heats were won by Kevin Hutton’s young and improving Venetian Will (29.47sec -10), Patrick Janssens’ ante-post favourite Romeo Steel (29.14sec -10), David Mullins’ strong-running Izzys Tenpin (29.39sec -10) and Liz McNair’s 2024 English Derby finalist King Memphis (28.98sec -10), and Mort said the whole afternoon produced the goods for British breeding.

She said: “It was a great start to our BGBF British Bred Derby this year – and thank-you for Towcester for taking it on. They have a new team there and have staged it at fairly short notice and they’re doing an excellent job of it!

“We had a great entry with six full heats on Sunday, showing there’s a lot of real talent in our current crop of British-bred dogs and bitches.

“Good to see King Memphis back on track after a long time off and posting a good clock in winning. He’s always loved Towcester as a previous track record holder there. He was only one of two runners under 29 seconds – the other being fastest-of-the-day Keefill Goose, so he was in good company. Goose and Rocky are both sons of Droopys Addition.

“Patrick Janssens and the Firmagers’ Romeo Steel justified expectations and won his heat well. He’s been a real star this year. As well as winning the Yarmouth Derby and Steel City Cup, he also won two British-bred prizes – the BGBF Midlands Sprint at Nottingham in March, then the BGBF TruFrame Champion Stakes at Towcester on Derby night.

“I always find it so fascinating seeing the breeding of these very good dogs – as a pointer to future breeding plans for many.

“Three which particular caught my eye were heat three winner was Izzys Tenpin, who’s a Feb 23 dog by David Mullins’ kennel star Tenpin out of Wastehouse Izzy, heat one winner Venetian Will, who was bred by Gilbert Anderson out of his Irish Derby runner-up Singalong Sally and a certain Droopys Sydney, and the wonderfully named Acejukeboxpopper. He’s by Signet Ace out of Heather Dimmock’s Popworld.

“There’s a lot to look forward to ahead of the semi-finals this week, and the final a week later on Sunday, December 21, and moving forward in the careers of these British-bred dogs and bitches.”

 

Photos: © Steve Nash