GREYHOUND RACING broke new ground at Towcester on Sunday when the first heats of the new Graders Derby, sponsored by Property 192, were staged.

Conceived and backed by leading owner Colin Davey, whose Oaks champion Ballymac Trend won her semi-final of the Empress Stakes on the same card, two heats of the £10,000-to-the-winner competition were hosted by the Northamptonshire venue.

Featuring greyhounds from a host of other tracks who are graded A4 or below, Towcester and Doncaster staged heats on Sunday and Monday respectively ahead of regional finals on September 26 and September 27 and the Grand Final on Sunday, October 10.

Towcester was first to go with two heats of the Region S group with Karen Coupe’s Doncaster raider Wish For Casey landing a surprise but deserved 12-1 victory as the August 2018 daughter of Droopys Roddick and Airmount Cher finished best for the spoils.

Henlow’s Slanan Yum Yum (Jason Bloomfield) led for much of the way here until Wish For Casey struck the front off the last bend to win by three and a quarter lengths in 30.46sec. The runner-up’s kennelmate Moanteen Dream qualified in third here.

Heat two saw Deanridge Awesom set the standard on the day as Allison Kelly-Pilgrim’s May 2018 son of Sh Avatar and Deanridge Angel, representing Crayford, led approaching the third bend before streaking clear to win by six and a quarter-lengths in 30.03sec.

Runner-up here was the Belinda Green-trained Bentleys Bullet with the Hove tracker staying on nicely for second ahead of the Richard Fitch-trained Barkin Mad Andy, representing Henlow, who qualified for next week’s final in third.

Towcester’s joint racing manager Andy Lisemore said: “Deanridge Awesom looked a cut above the rest in qualification and certainly lived up to expectations in the heats. Clearly, he’s the one they all have to beat.

“He’s certainly a big unit, weighing in around 38 kilos, and looks better suited to the wide open spaces of Towcester compared to his home track Crayford.”

Doncaster hosted three Property 192 Graders Derby qualifiers on Monday as part of Region N with the first two in each making it through to Monday’s decider.

Heat one saw Sheffield’s Swift Chastity (Candlelight King-Swift Angela, Aug 19), trained by Lisa Stephenson, come through approaching the third bend to win by three and a quarter lengths from Perry Barr’s Waterside Sydney (Pat Doocey) in 29.76sec.

Towcester’s Makeit Gertcha (Duke Special-Droopys Start, Jun 2017) edged out Burgess Vivato (Vicki Lea) in heat two, with the Frank Gray-trained runner holding off his trackmate to score by a short-head in 29.91sec for the 483m trip.

The final heat saw Vicki Lea secure a second regional finalist next week as Millhouse Alan (Droopys Roddick-Million Jay, Aug 2019) caught Towcester’s Kishlawn Orla (Paul Braithwaite) at the fourth turn to win by almost two lengths in 29.79sec.

 

Trap draw for the regional finals:-

Towcester (Region S – Sunday, September 26): 1 Barkin Mad Andy, 2 Slanan Yum Yum, 3 Moanteen Dream, 4 Deanridge Awesom (m), 5 Wish For Casey (w), 6 Bentleys Bullet (w).

Doncaster (Region N – Monday, September 27): 1 Waterside Sydney, 2 Makeit Gertcha, 3 Millhouse Alan, 4 Swift Chastity, 5 Burgess Vivato, 6 Kishlawn Orla