TOWCESTER is preparing to host the semi-finals of the 2026 Star Sports & Orchestrate Ltd. English Greyhound Derby on Saturday with Ireland taken a numerical advantage into the latter stages of the £125,000-to-the-winner Classic.

Eight of the 12 semi-finalists are from across the Irish Sea with Liam Dowling, who won the Derby two years ago with De Lahdedah, holding the strongest hand of the Irish trainers with four semi-finalists representing the Co. Kerry handler including last week’s fastest quarter-final winner Ballymac Deniro.

Well away in the third quarter-final, Ballymac Deniro raced away for a 28.21sec (normal) success from Paul Hennessy’s duo of Lennies Eddie and Lennies Tank to clock the fastest time of the quarter-finals and set the standard at the last-24 stage.

Ballymac Deniro will be joined in Saturday’s semi-finals by kennelmates Ballymac Iroko, second to the John Kennedy-trained Epic Ace (28.40sec) in the first quarter-final, Ballymac   Duffle, third behind Richard Rees’s Scooby The Lady in the second quarter-final, and Ballymac Ralf, second to Mark Wallis’s Strike It Skye (28.50sec) in the fourth quarter-final.

“Liam’s dogs have been tremendous and Deniro, especially, showed so much class and speed in winning his quarter-final,” said Towcester racing manager Danny Rayment. “However, I think it shows you how well Strike It Skye and Proper Heiress had run when they beat him in previous rounds. They looked good races at the time.”

Rayment said the home challenge was still pitching for Derby glory – and that there were still “one of two twists in this year’s Derby story to come”.

He added: “The Irish challenge looks strong but that was the case last year when they had five of the six finalists – and they might do even better this year.

“Equally, the four UK-trained runners are still in with a chance – and the two bitches, Scooby The Lady and Strike It Skye are rising to the challenge.

“They’ve been brilliant – and just seem to be getting better, both of them. Proper Heiress tired coming home in the quarters but he’d done a lot of running behind Epic Ace and it might be a different story if he was to dominate in the semis, while Debbie Calvert is having the time of her life with Sole Focus am sure. He’s tough to see out of the frame.

“The Irish dogs have been quickest overall, swopping the track record between them, and are worthy favourites to take the title but we’ve got some seriously good semi-finals to look forward to – plus some fantastic supporting competitions. We’re looking forward to it.”

Saturday’s semi-finals of the Star Sports & Orchestrate Ltd. English Greyhound Derby will be supported by the semi-finals of the greyhoundtrader.com Stakes (500m), the Pricedup.Bet Derby Plate (500m), the Time Nutrition Sprint Trophy (270m), the Greatbet Challenge Trophy (712m) and the BGBF TruFrame Champion Stakes.

Sunday’s card sees heats of the PCS Legal Puppy Trophy (500m) and the Elite Electrical & Automation Limited Bitches Trophy (500m), with the first two in each of three heats of each event making it through to finals night on Saturday, June 6.