SPACE JET again wowed the crowds as Matt Dartnall’s superstar produced another amazing performance in the heats of the Premier Greyhound Racing Regency at Hove on Saturday.

Lining up at the scene of her record-breaking 2022 Coral TV Trophy success, the crowd-pleasing February 2019 daughter of Droopys Jet and Volcano came from off the pace to strike gold in heat three of the GBGB Category One event- albeit that does not tell the whole story of the race!

Coming to challenge and win the race approaching the last bend of the 695m contest, Space Jet was forced to check her stride and then had to show great trackcraft to catch kennelmate leader Swiper close home for a Dartnall-trained one-two in 43.02sec (-60). Jurassic Rose (Tony Collett) was back in third.

Bubbly Scorcher set the standard in heat one as Paul Young’s June 2021 son of Good News and Bubbly Firebird was always handy and took up the running off the third bend before going on to score by a length from the staying-on Baggios Champ (Frank Bryce), with early leader Free Style Sue (Tom Levers) qualifying in third.

The winning time was 42.34sec (-60), the fastest of the round.

Lively Lauren then initiated a double for the Matt Dartnall camp when producing a game performance in heat two, coming through well to lead off the last bend before running away from her field to win by three and a half lengths from Hopes Woofwoof (Jason Heath) and Roll On Sydney (Paul Young) in 42.50sec (-60).

Jacktavern Magic (Mark Wallis) followed up his recent Coral Maiden 695 success with an impressive heat four victory in 42.65sec (-60), coming home ahead of Savana Queen (Diane Henry) and Gutsy Jet (Kevin Boon), before the runner-up’s kennelmate Savana Heross produced a powerful finish to land heat five.

Led by Lightfoot Falcon (Seamus Cahill) for almost all of the six-bend contest, the eventual winner overcame crowding on route before reeling in the pace-setter to score by half-a-length in 42.69sec (-60), with Teds Dexter (Nathan Hunt) making the semis in third.

The sixth and final heat saw the Belinda Green-trained Turkish Lira, second to Jacktavern Magic in the Coral Maiden 695, frank the form of that two-run event with a good front-running performance to score by a length and a half from Romeo Turbo (Patrick Janssens) and Droopys Senorita (Carl Gardiner) in 43.03sec (-60).

Rob Abrey, Hove’s racing manager, said: “On what was a windswept night for all, fair play to all the runners in our two Category One competitions – the Premier Greyhound Racing Regency and Coral Sussex Cup. These two prestigious events made up the entire card here on Saturday and they didn’t disappoint!

“The Premier Greyhound Racing Regency got the party started with Bubbly Scorcher for Romford handler Paul Young clocking the fastest time, albeit it was good to see Baggios Champ, a finalist last year for Swindon trainer Frank Bryce, book his semi-final place.

“Crowd favourite Space Jet won her heat by getting up on the line to beat kennelmate Swiper by a neck to keep her campaign on track, while Towcester trainer Diane Henry justified her decision to travel south by qualifying both Savana Queen and Savana Heross for Saturday’s semi-finals, which will not disappoint.”

Form and trap draw for Saturday’s semi-finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Brighton-Hove/form-guides/Sat-22nd-July-Form-Adv.pdf