BELLMORE SALLY set the standard in the semi-finals of the Premier Greyhound Racing Golden Jacket with a fastest-of-the-day 45.07sec for the 714m at Crayford.

Lining up in the third of Saturday’s semis, Jimmy Fenwick’s two-year-old showed pace to lead at the bend and was never headed thereafter as the December 2019 daughter of Droopys Sydney and Bellmore Lucy sauntered to a six and three-quarter lengths success over Burgess Hannah (Tony Gifkins) in 45.07sec (normal) for the Kent venue’s eight bends.

A delighted trainer Fenwick said of the Newcastle raider: “I always felt she’d break better from the three-box and get herself in the race early. She was seeded middle but drew trap five in the heats and that made things difficult for her. In fact, she did really well to qualify let alone win her heat after trouble, so we knew she was in good heart.

“We’ve always thought the world of her. She was bought as a stayer but we kept her to four bends for her puppy career and she didn’t race over six until Nottingham just before Christmas – but she’d shown plenty over four bends making the finals of both the Puppy Classic at Nottingham and then the Empress Stakes at Towcester.

“It’s a great final and great to be part of it for the first time. We’ve put in the miles to get here, but it’s been worth it and Crayford have been very accommodating.”

Piercestown Dove made it another Golden Jacket finalist for trainer Derek Knight when powering to victory in the first semi-final.

The Hove handler has won the Golden Jacket a record five times and sent out this October 2018 daughter of Ballymac Eske and Piercestown Moll to overcome crowding before hitting the front down the back second time for a length victory over the staying-on Antigua Lava (Mark Wallis) in 45.66sec.

Warzone Zone then set up the possibility of a Gold Collar/Golden Jacket when landing an all-the-way victory for Liz McNair in the second semi-final as the original ante-post favourite raced to a fastest-of-the-day 23.03sec sectional before crossing the line two and a half lengths clear of Droopy Senorita (Claude Gardiner) in 45.49sec.

Both qualify for Saturday’s £20,000-to-the-winner final of the GBGB Category One event formerly known as the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket, which will be once again be supported by the £5,000 Peter Bussey Memorial Trophy, plus a 540m final for the Chief Ramsbottom Hurdle and the 380m Ladbrokes.com Winter One-Lap Trophy.

“We’ve also got our famous 1,048m race plus a whole host of other supporting opens and all close at noon on Wednesday,” said Graham Banks, Crayford’s deputy racing manager.

“It’s our biggest meeting of the year and will again attract a busy Saturday morning crowd for some top-class racing. The Golden Jacket seems to be a lot of people’s favourite race and this year’s final looks absolutely top-class so congratulations to connections of all the finalists who will be well looked after here on Saturday.

“I’d just like to say a personal thanks to those trainers and kennelhands who I’ve interviewed for our social media output. It always goes down well and I’m looking forward to chatting to more trainers and connections next week for finals’ morning. It should be a great day and one of the best meetings in the sport this year.”

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=382020&raceId=814190

Form and trap draw for Saturday’s finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Crayford/form-guides/Crayford-Saturday-Morning-19th-February-2022-Finals-Form.pdf