MONMORE racing manager Tony Williamson thanked connections for their patience and understanding after Saturday’s Ladbrokes Winter Derby heats were interrupted by an issue with the hare which saw a mid-meeting delay to racing.

However, when racing did re-start, Liz McNair’s team flourished as Queen Joni (pictured) posted the fastest time and King Capaldi and King Sydney landed a littermate double for the trainer. Queen Joni and King Capaldi now clash in Saturday’s third semi-final of the £10,000-to-the-winner competition at the track’s matinee fixture.

“The delay clearly didn’t concern Rab and Liz’s dogs!” said Williamson. “They were all fantastic, but seriously thanks to all the handlers and connections for their understanding. They could see our track staff were working hard on the issue – they did a fantastic job by the way – and thankfully we could complete the meeting.

“Obviously Queen Joni was quickest, but I was taken by the performance of King Sydney who’s done a lot of running to pick up our own Aero Sacundai. He’s still improving for Richie (Taberner) and the team, but nevertheless that was a strong and eye-catching victory and just underlines what amazing job the McNairs do with their home-breds.

“I was also delighted to see Coolavanny Shado get through. That was some heat with Queen Joni and Churchfield Syd both in the same race. They all made it through and the way Shado closed on Joni into the third bend was impressive. He just challenged at the wrong time but remains an incredibly fast dog.

“It was also good to see Links Maverick qualify, too. He was a brilliant winner of our Gold Cup last year and will have needed Saturday’s run after a long spell off the card.”

The competition had started with victory for the Diane Henry-trained Burj Khalifa in 28.62sec (-20) as last year’s English Derby semi-finalist finished best for the spoils to edge out Whyaye Man, with Queen Georgia (Liz McNair) qualifying back in third ahead of early leader Romeo Cypher – the first three making it through to Saturday’s semis.

Tom Heilbron sent out Bogger Rambo for a runaway victory in heat two as the Premier Greyhound Racing All England Cup semi-finalist blasted to the first bend on his way to a five and a half length win over Belinda Green’s pair of Getup Me Boy and Betsys Bullet. The winning time was 28.58sec (-20).

Best finish of the morning was arguably in heat three as Ted Soppitt’s Skywalker Pele stayed best on the outside to grab pace-setting Kila Detail (Richard Rees) before crossing the line a length in front of the staying-on Bluejig Baron (Dave Lee) in 28.61sec (-20).

Then followed a delay to racing before Liz McNair’s home-bred Queen Joni posted a best-of-session 4.24sec sectional on her way to a three-length victory over defending champion Coolavanny Shado (Patrick Janssens) and Churchfield Syd (Richard Rees) in a standard-setting 28.36sec (-20) for the 480m trip.

Littermates King Capaldi and King Sydney then wrapped up their heats to complete the McNair treble, albeit in contrasting styles.

King Capaldi was quickly away in heat five and never headed for a length and a half win over a rallying Droopys Eddie (Maxine Locke) and Links Maverick (Tom Heilbron). The latter, last year’s Ladbrokes Gold Cup champion over C&D, was returning from a long spell on the sidelines and made Saturday’s semis in third place.

King Sydney then finished best to emulate his litter brother’s feat by kicking off his Ladbrokes Winter Derby campaign with a success.

Led early by Aero Sacundai (Richie Taberner), the two-year-old son of Droopys Sydney and Queen Beyonce ran on the stronger to claim a four and a quarter length win over the local hope and Drive On Lad (Richard Rees) in 28.39sec (-20).