CHELMS SWITCH landed a surprise but deserved 14-1 victory in the RPGTV Derby Plate Final at Towcester on Saturday.

The GBGB Category Two event, for dogs knocked out in the early rounds of the Classic and one of the chief supporting competitions to the main event, went to the John Mullins-trained and Lee Harris, Chris Waters and James Watson-owned runner.

Breaking smartly from the outside box, the June 2019 son of Droopys Buick and Droopys Saab took advantage of moderate starts from his rivals, including kennelmate Chelms Fred and his Innfield Trojan, and led at the first bend on his way to victory.

However, in behind, Goldies Perryman (Paul Foster) conjured up a strong-running effort to get within a short-head of the winner at the line in 29.69sec (normal).

Part-owner Chris Waters said: “He wasn’t the one of our two we expected to win, but we’ll take it,” while Lee Harris added: “That was brilliant. We expected Fred to lead but Switch came round and has done the business.

“John’s (Mullins) just a great trainer. It was good to have two runners in the final on such a great occasion with so many people here. It’s a great night.”

Towcester and sponsors Star Sports also staged the Jack Murrell Memorial Trophy over 500m, in memory of the late greyhound owner, kennelhand and RPGTV team and Greyhound Writers’ Association member.

Peter Cronin’s Irish raider Cape Cloud led early here and was always in command as the October 2019 son of Pat C Sabbath and Bua Bui, who reached the quarter-finals of the Derby, drew clear to lead home Bockos Budsit (Graham Holland) by three and a half lengths in 29.34sec.

Winning trainer Cronin said: “There was a lot of early pace in the race so he had to lead which he’s done. He’s a great dog for his owners, the Leamybrien Syndicate, and great to win what was a race of top quality – and a very special one at that being named in Jack’s honour.”

Jack Murrell’s parents Steve and Kerry presented the trophy to winning connections as guests of Ben Keith and thanked the Star Sports boss for remembering their son, a very popular and much-missed young man in greyhound circles, in this way.

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=386449&raceId=851879