THORN FALCON led home kennelmate Kilara Lion to land trainer Patrick Janssens an incredible one-two in Saturday’s £175,000 Star Sports/TRC Events & Leisure English Greyhound Derby Final at Towcester.

In returning the famous trophy to these shores after back-to-back Irish victories at Nottingham, GBGB champion trainer Janssens saw off a strong challenge from the visitors once again to make it three English-trained winners in Towcester Derbys following success for Astute Missile (2017) and Dorotas Wildcat (2018).

And right from the start of Saturday’s 500m contest, Janssens was in pole position to win his first Derby as three-time GBGB Category One winner Kilara Lion catapulted from the traps, leaving his rivals for dead with a lightning 4.05sec sectional.

However, Thorn Falcon was soon in contention, the KAB Maiden Derby winner over C&D in May showing superb speed himself to join issue with Kilara Lion at the bend before driving himself to the front into what proved a race-winning lead which he never looked likely to relinquish. He was on his way to Classic glory.

Roared on by a huge crowd, Thorn Falcon crossed the line three and three-quarter lengths clear of Kilara Lion with defending champion Deerjet Sydney (Pat Buckley) in third ahead of fourth-placed Ballymac Fairone, fifth-placed Ballymac Wild – both for Liam Dowling – and sixth-placed Newinn Session (Graham Holland).

The winning time was an outstanding 29.06sec (normal), just three spots off the track record.

Derby-winning trainer Patrick Janssens said: “This is a dream come true and I’m proud my mum and dad were able to watch from home – as well as all my friends and greyhound fans across Europe. They’d have been watching this across Belgium, Holland, Germany, Hungary – everywhere.

“Thank-you to all my team – my wife Cheryl, daughter Ria, her partner Luke, Chloe who’s here tonight and all the team – including Ron Mills (sports physiotherapist) who does so much fantastic work with the dogs.

“For a big greyhound – he’s near 39 kilos – he drives the bends so well. I knew he was well this week and he’s just improved with each run at Towcester. He has an amazing record here now – the Maiden Derby and then the Derby itself. It’s fantastic and is like winning the Champions League after winning the Premier League which was the trainer’s title.

“I’ve always thought a lot of ‘Big Bill’. I saw him beat Seaglass Smokey five lengths in a sprint trial here at Towcester and thought that was some run – Smokey’s a really good dog himself. So he had the speed – and has just proved himself an honest and genuine greyhound.

Bred by Joe Devlin in Co. Wexford, Thorn Falcon is a February 2019 son of Dorotas Wildcat and Hey Delilah – meaning the 2018 English Derby champion has sired a Derby champion already, much to the delight of his watching Towcester handler Kevin Hutton.

Winner of seven of his nine races in the UK, Janssens bought the greyhound formerly known as Ordinary Joesoap for his owners Keith Allsop, Mark Harrison and Chris Osborn – known as Two Dragons And A Lion – after a 28.96sec Enniscorthy win.

For longtime owner Allsop, well known for the Slick-prefixed runners, this was Derby glory after some near-misses, but for Harrison this was very much a case of beginner’s luck given the two-year-old is the first greyhound he has been involved with.

Of the runner-up Kilara Lion, Janssens added: “We’re all really proud of ‘Louis the Lion’ . He’s such a competitor and we knew he’d go well if he could break – and, boy, did he break. The way he’s come back from injury has been amazing and his record on the track is second to none really.”

For Janssens himself, Saturday’s one-two added him to a select group of trainers to have sent out the winner and runner-up in a Derby final. Janssens becomes just the third handler to achieve such a feat in terms of first past the past.

Only Jim Hookway with Tric Trac and Spectre II at White City in 1967 and Arthur Hitch with Tico and Master Hardy at Wimbledon in 1986 landed a one-two on the night – and that achievement was not lost on sponsor Ben Keith of Star Sports.

He said: “I’m delighted Patrick is breaking these records. When I was a bookmaker at Walthamstow, Patrick was a kennelhand with Mark Wallis and you knew then he’d become a top-class trainer in his own right one day. He’s a man with a massive heart, a real gentlemen and I congratulate him and his team.

“It’s been an amazing night.”