Graham Holland hit the ground running in the first batch of heats of the Star Sports/TRC English Greyhound Derby as a good crowd turned up at Towcester to witness heats 1-10.

Fastest of the night was Val Tashadelek as the BetGoodwin and JR Racing Syndicate Maiden Derby finalist struck gold in heat nine, pacing up well from an inside berth and holding the challenge of the always handy and keeping-on Romeo Tomcat (Patrick Janssens) to clock 28.81sec (-20).

Val Tashadelek was the middle leg of a Graham Holland-trained treble on the first night which was kicked off by his Irish Derby winner Bockos Diamond who paced up and led off the second bend for a length success over Killieford Goram (Dean Blackbird) in 29.23sec (-20) – much to the relief of connections given his high-profile standing.

“It’s all about qualifying and it’s nice to get the first one out of the way,” said part-owner Graham Box of the Juvenile Championship third. “He made a better start tonight than he did in the Juvenile and he’s going to improve for that. We’re happy enough. He needed the Juvenile run and he needed this. There’s a long way to go.”

Cheap Sandwiches rounded off a good night for Team Holland in heat ten off the back of a superb show of early pace which set up a two-length victory over Glory Lord (Craig Morris) in 28.91sec (-20).

Earlier, Time Greyhound Nutrition Juvenile Championship winner Proper Heiress suffered a surprise defeat in the heat five as Mike Burton’s Droopys Aladdin made the most of a fast start in heat eight to lead the red-hot 4-9 favourite into the turn and onwards, crossing the line a length and a quarter in front in 28.96sec (-20).

Burton’s head man Michael Jones said: “That was fantastic to see. We’ve always thought the world of him and it’s great to do that here at Towcester. He loves the rails and tends to cut across but he kept a straight line tonight and maybe that’s a sign of maturity now – he’s getting clever. We’d still rather him closer to the fence though!”

Ireland’s Paul Hennessy again kicked off his Star Sports/TRC English Greyhound Derby with a heat victory.

Twelve months on from Maiden Derby winner Jaytee Etienne winning heat one of the 2024 Star Sports/TRC English Greyhound Derby, Jaytee Craze – another finalist then – produced a strong-running performance to beat Droopys Bookem (Tom Heilbron) by a length in 29.24sec (-20), justifying 4-5 favouritism in the process.

There was a hugely popular winner of heat two as Roy Peckham’s Tiffield Tarquin, owned by 96-year-old Bill McColl and his wife Jenny, led off the front early in heat two for a superb six and three-quarters lengths success in 28.94sec (-20).

Other Thursday night heats went to Paul Young’s big-money sales purchase Teejays Chelms (29.27sec -20), Patrick Janssens’ beaten BresBet Gymcrack favourite Droopys Trade (29.34sec -20), Maxine Locke’s Droopys Prefect (29.46sec -20) and Liam Dowling’s Ballymac Pebb (29.31sec -20).

 

 

Photo: © Steve Nash