KING BRUNO landed a knockout blow on his rivals when blasting to the fastest time of the night in heat four of the BresBet 75th East Anglian Greyhound Derby at Yarmouth on Wednesday.

Initiating a quickfire double for the Liz McNair kennel, the May 2018 son of Leamaneigh Turbo and Skate On – from the litter which included Queen Jessiej, King Sam and King Drake and a half-brother of a former GBGB Greyhound of the Year in King Elvis – broke smartly and was never headed.

Clear off the second bend, the Northern Flat finalist and British Bred Midlands Sprint Trophy runner-up (to littermate King Sam) won unchallenged to score by one and a quarter lengths from the keeping-on Dominance (Sandra Clayton) and Montrose (Irene Barnard) in 27.67sec for the 462m trip.

The McNairs’ Havana Class, the Laurels champion, justified favouritism in heat five as he came through a good challenge from Antigua Storm (Mark Wallis) before crossing the line one and a half lengths clear in 27.91sec.

The other heats were won by Mark Wallis’s Billis Tudor (28.00sec), Seamus Cahill’s Blastoff Mason (28.01sec), Jane Craske’s Adamant Taurus (28.20sec) and Patrick Janssens’ ante-post favourite Bockos Jon Jo (27.98sec).

Stadium director Simon Franklin said: “I thought Wednesday was a great night’s racing and continued the real feelgood factor here since crowds have come back.

“It’s actually been a great summer. Numbers-wise crowds have been really good with lots of people and families enjoying a staycation this year – and Great Yarmouth as a whole has been reaping the benefit.

“It’s meant plenty of people coming through the turnstiles and making restaurant bookings, so it’s been good seeing a packed stadium throughout the summer. As a sport we pride ourselves on offering a family-friendly night out – and we’ve had families of all ages enjoying an evening’s racing.

“As a track, of course, we’re delighted to see the East Anglian Derby back to its pre-Covid prize-money levels – and thanks here must go to our new sponsors BresBet.

“I know they launched the company on the day of the heats here at Yarmouth and wish them all the best. They’re very much greyhound racing people and that has shone through in the conversations I’ve had with them.

“We took the decision to make the BresBet 75th East Anglian Greyhound Derby over just three rounds this year, not really knowing how the affects of Covid would play out. However, we had an amazing entry of 56 and unfortunately had to disappoint a few trainers to reduce the field down to 36.

“It means next year we plan to go back to four rounds and advertise the competition for 48 runners, but in the meantime the first three Wednesdays here in September are very much about the East Anglian Derby, although finals’ night once again will include supporting competitions and other open races.”

Trap draw for Wednesday’s semi-finals: https://yarmouthstadium.co.uk/wp-content/uploadedpdf/aw.pdf

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=376965&raceId=770598