MILTON PEPE heads into Saturday’s Premier Greyhound Racing Puppy Derby Final at Monmore this weekend as the fastest semi-final winner after landing the first semi-final of the £20,000-to-the-winner GBGB Category One event on Saturday.

Trained by Lee Field, the Jun 2020 son of Ballymac Anton and Elite Hawk produced a strong-running effort when coming through powerfully at the fourth turn to catch longtime leader Farneys Buster before racing impressively clear to score by three and a quarter lengths from Kevin Boon’s dog in 28.48sec (-20) for the 480m trip.

Newcastle-trained runners would win the other two other semi-finals with Blackhouse Harry, third in the Arc Northern Puppy Derby, franking the form of that competition when landing the second semi with a superb show of all-round speed to score.

The August 2020 son of Confident Rankin was soon handy before Coppice Fox (Kevin Hutton) shot clear off the second bend, only for the Stuart Ray-trained tracker to come home the stronger along with favourite Deelish Frankie (Patrick Janssens), with half a length between the pair at the line. The winning time was 28.72sec (-20).

Tom Heilbron, out of luck with his Northern Puppy Derby runner-up Innfield Trojan in the second semi after being crowded out, struck in the third semi-final as his Newcastle champion Freedom Alibi again underlined the quality of that form.

Having made all in the heats, the April 2020 whelp showed real determination to turn an unpromising position for most of the race into a head victory over Annual Sydney (Kevin Hutton) in 28.76sec (-20) – the pair lining up in Saturday’s showpiece final.

It means Freedom Alibi has a chance to emulate Jaguar Macie’s success in both the Newcastle and Monmore Puppy Derbys in 2021 – and Newcastle handler Heilbron is delighted with the youngster’s progress at the Wolverhampton venue.

He said: “He ran really well, especially given he looked in right bother when Kevin’s dog cut across him, but he showed the heart of a lion to win again and just never knows when he’s beat. He’s a real credit to us and his owners.

“He’s got trap two in the final and I’m pretty happy with that to be honest. We have to lead Blackhouse Harry early and, if we do, I think he’s got a massive say in the final. He’s 100 per cent and so is Innfield Trojan after his troubled run. He’ll head back to Monmore for a supporting puppy open on Saturday.”

Craig Gardiner, Monmore racing manager, said: “It really is a fantastic final with so much quality. As it stands I’m just with Freedom Alibi as my overall pick.

“He’s done nothing wrong so far and is showing that his win in the Northern Puppy Derby at Newcastle in February was no fluke. He showed his class in the semi-final after slightly missing his break and had to battle to get himself in front coming off the last bend. He’ll need to be on his toes at the boxes on Saturday, however.”

Trap draw for Saturday’s Premier Greyhound Racing Puppy Derby Final: 1 Blackhouse Harry, 2 Freedom Alibi, 3 Farneys Buster, 4 Deelish Frankie, 5 Milton Pepe, 6 Annual Sydney (m).

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=382921&raceId=823109