MONGYS WILD will start favourite to complete back-to-back wins in the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket in Saturday’s £20,000 final at Monmore after a supreme show of pace and power to post the fastest clock in last weekend’s semis.

Looking to emulate the likes of back-to-back Golden Jacket winners Bobs Regan, Wexford Minx and Bellmore Sally, the October 2022 son of Roxholme Olaf and Banter Breeze saved the best for last in the third semi last weekend when cutting through his field before racing away for a five-length win over The Other Winx (Maxine Locke) in 40.91sec (normal), setting the standard in the three semis.

A multiple Category One winner last year and nominated for the upcoming GBGB Awards, Mongys Wild will be aiming to add another major victory in 2026 to his Arc Cesarewitch title won at Central Park last month in the 684m showpiece.

On Saturday, Mark Wallis’s champion will be renewing rivalry with Droopys Flare, whom he caught close home to win last year’s St Leger final at Nottingham. The latter, trained by Sheffield’s Sean Parker, came through a classy second semi to edge out for Vhagar, another Mark Wallis runner, for a head success in 41.11sec (normal).

The opening semi went to the Maxine Locke-trained Bluejig Outlaw who produced a strong-running display to reel in Cartoonist (Craig Morris) by a head in 41.34sec. The Romford raider went off the 4-9 favourite to set up a good night for favourite backers in the Golden Jacket semis, if not the Winter Derby.

“We had some classy but big-priced winners in the Winter Derby semis, underlying how open that competition has been this year perhaps, but favourite backers certainly had the best of things in the Golden Jacket semis with the odds-on favourites obliging,” said Joe Edwards, Monmore’s communications manager.

He added: “However it means we have an exceptional Ladbrokes Golden Jacket Final – and two brilliant finals to look forward to on Saturday. Both competitions have provided lots of entertainment over the past few weeks and certainly lived up to the billing.

“Personally, there’s a lot of work going into making sure the nights are as enjoyable as possible for connections of the finalists. Each finalist will receive a complimentary engraved frame with a special photo of their greyhound, a rosette to mark the occasion, and free meal in our restaurant.

“I look forward to taking the pictures of the winners at the podium and then doing it all again in March for the Puppy Derby!”

Trap draw for the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket Final: 1 Mongys Wild, 2 Bluejig Outlaw, 3 Droopys Flare, 4 Cartoonist (m), 5 The Other Winx (m), 6 Vhagar (m).