SLINGSHOT POPPY completed an unbeaten run through the competition when making all in £7,500 Arena Racing Company Puppy Trophy Final at Sunderland – landing a rare Irish-trained success in the longstanding youngsters’ annual in the process.

Trained by Pat Buckley but now owned by Craig Armstrong who owns runners with Brian Fairbairn – the October 2023 daughter of Grangeview Ten and Global Glengar will be heading to the Newcastle trainer after her Irish campaign – Slingshot Poppy (formerly Flashing Saffron) was soon in command after a fast start and never looked in danger.

Racing to a 4.86sec sectional, the Irish bitch dominated her rivals and raced away for a runaway six and three-quarter lengths success over Jacktavern Chief (Kevin Hutton) and third-placed Witton Versace (Jill Sutherst) in 26.73sec (+10), her winning time joint-best in the event along with her own heat success a fortnight previously.

Success for Slingshot Poppy means both the main puppy competitions at the north-east tracks – Sunderland and Newcastle – have been won by Irish-trained runners this year after the Robert Gleeson-trained Droopys Deploy won the Arena Racing Company Northern Puppy Derby at the Byker venue. 

Final night at Sunderland included a host of supporting opens including an 828m marathon worth £828 to the winner and two finals, the Arena Racing Company 450 Standard Final and Arena Racing Company Dash Final won by, respectively, the David Mullins-trained Brindle Bully (26.99sec +10) and Carl Jackson’s win-machine Lion Heart (15.41sec +5). 

Joanne Wilson, general manager at Sunderland: “This year’s Arena Racing Company Puppy Trophy has been a great competition. I always love the Puppy Cup, or Puppy Trophy as it was this year, and finals night didn’t disappoint.

“The ‘Slingshot’ army came out in force and it was great having an Irish entry and ultimate winner – I’m just thankful the presentation stand here at Sunderland is a big one!

“Bringing back the marathon, especially with a £828 winner’s prize, was well accepted. It’s just a shame we had a few withdrawals but we’ll definitely be repeating it.

“Overall we had a fair spread of winners for different connections, which is always great to see, and we’re very grateful to all the trainers who supported the event and, in some cases, came from far and wide!

“Sunderland is very much back on the map with a real buzz round the place. We’re hosting regular open racing on Friday evenings, the track is in magnificent condition, and I have a great team here who work so hard.

“It was a busy weekend for us all. I headed south to Central Park on Saturday night for the Arc Kent Silver Salver Final, which was a great night also, and now the spotlight turns to Newcastle for the upcoming Time Greyhound Nutrition Northern Flat.

“We ran a Fund Racer event on finals night here at Sunderland which was a huge success and raised money for some local charities – and that’s great and important how we can involve the local community with these events.

“As always, we had our retired athletes leading the parades and meeting racegoers – and we actually had a greyhound who made the third round of the Derby here in the shape of Dean Blackbird’s That’s It Jack milling around.

“He was a huge success and people loved meeting such a star!”