MIKE BURTON landed his first Category One title with victory for Outa The Clouds in Sunday’s KAB Puppy Collar Final at Oxford.

Victory for the Gloucester-based handler followed the lead of Oaks-winning trainer Barry Denby who also secured a first major title in his 70s when sending out Butlers Lane to win the Premier Greyhound Racing Oaks Final at Dunstall Park.

Burton, a 79-year-old former British Lion, sent out Outa The Clouds, a March 2024 son of Droopys Flytline and Droopys Winifred, to claim the £10,000-to-the-winner Category One, not staged last year but back this year, in all-the-way style.

Having just his fifth race in the £10,000-to-the-winner Category One final over 450m, the Severn Racing Club-owned Outa The Clouds had won his semi-final off the front and a fast start paved the way for a repeat in the decider.

Lining up a 3-1 chance in a competitive contest with a fair spread of chances, a slick exit from the youngster secured first-bend lead which proved to be a winning one.

Always bossing proceedings, Outa The Clouds crucially got first run on Scooby Diamond (Nathan Hunt), the Coral Romford Puppy Cup winner, and held that rival at bay for a length and a quarter success from his Monmore-based rival.

The winning time was 26.69sec (normal), with third place going to the always prominent Ollie The Ox (Kevin Hutton), who was crowded at the bend after pacing up.

For winning trainer Burton, Sunday proved a special day.

A kennelhand in his younger days before a successful rugby and business career, Burton enjoyed success as an owner with his grandson George with Kevin Hutton a few years back before taking out a trainer’s licence himself.

He is now based out of Valley in Wales, travelling from his Gloucester kennels.

“Thankyou to Kevin Boothby and all at Oxford for a great day for us on Sunday,” said Burton. “The pup ran really well, which is all you can hope for.

“Clouds took his time to come to hand but really settled in well at Oxford and ran great in the semis and the final, although I knew he was going the right way when he had to battle just to qualify from the heats.

“We don’t have that many runners but we’re lucky to have a nice team. We might consider Towcester and the Puppy Derby for Clouds and we’ve also got a nice team for the (Premier Greyhound Racing) Eclipse at Nottingham, so it’s nice to target these great competitions – and again thanks to all who make it possible.”

 

Photos: © Steve Nash