LINKS MAVERICK, trained at Newcastle by Tom Heilbron, landed his second GBGB Category One title with a brilliant victory in the final of the Stadium Bookmakers Pall Mall at Oxford on Saturday.

The famous event, returned to the schedule for the first time since 2012 following the track’s reopening last year, had seen a new track record set in the competition by the eventual winner, who was foot-perfect come the £20,000-to-the-winner decider over 450m.

Flashing away from the boxes, the May 2021 son of Grangeview Ten and Havana Lottie unleashed a brute burst of pace to the bend to clear his lines at the turn and race away for a three-length success from the staying-on Eze (Angie Kibble) in 26.92sec (-10).

Third place went to Hawkfield Ozark (Patrick Janssens) who was second for much of the way before being overhauled by the powerful Swindon raider on the run for home. However, victory was Links Maverick’s.

Successful in the Arc Northern Puppy Derby at Newcastle in February and a close-up third to Bradys Bullet at Monmore in March, winning trainer Heilbron said his runner, whom he part-owns with his father Kevin, Trevor Rush and David Wilson, had matured into a top-class runner who it was a pleasure to train.

“I’m just pointing him in the right direction and he’s doing the rest,” he said. “He’s a brilliantly fast greyhound who I’ve described as bombproof. He’s stronger now than at Monmore but even so I was right to miss the Derby with him, concentrating on winning the Pall Mall, and he’s done that – breaking the track record on route.

“We’ll trial him back at Monmore with the (Ladbrokes) Gold Cup the target, but will definitely enjoy this win for a good few days – in fact, I might be smiling for weeks! It really was a fantastic night at Oxford, made even more special that our Links Dasher (26.92sec) also won the puppy race in some style. We think a lot of him, too.

“But I’d just like to reiterate a massive thanks to the track and sponsors for reviving the competition. It was first class from start to finish and great for us to win such a prestigious event as the Pall Mall. Maverick is absolutely a worthy winner. We’re always after competition-class greyhounds and he’s definitely one of them.”