LIGHTFOOT KING, trained by Sheffield’s Elaine Parker, was fastest in the William Hill Grand Prix semi-finals at Sunderland on Wednesday – on a night when a fatal injury to Kevin Boon’s star Murrys Act cast a huge shadow over proceedings.

Murrys Act failed to finish in the third semi-final – a race which was declared void after the stricken greyhound carried on racing after breaking down. The hare was stopped in the interests of safety as the field approached the penultimate turn.

Bombers Bullet was in front at the time and Mark Wallis’s Derby finalist, along with Anneliese Thompson’s Swift Hansel, will occupy final places on Wednesday after the connections of the other runners in the race opted not to re-run.

Ballymac Twitter had kickstarted the Grand Prix semi-finals with another fluent all-the-way victory for Kelly Macari as he won the early battle with Gazilly Shay, eventually coming home a length clear of the staying-on Looking Sharp (Pat Rosney) in 39.69sec (normal).

Paul Noble, assistant to Newcastle-based Macari, said afterwards: “He needed to get off the front, and has managed it once leading Gazilly Shay. It was only his second six-bend run but was entered with a view to getting to the final – and he’s done that.

“We always felt stamina might be an issue, and they’ve come back to him in heat and now semi-final but hopefully we’ve left something to work with before the final. He’s still improving and very lightly-raced remember.

“He’s got a touch of class; his Irish form shows that. It’s a tough final, of course, the Grand Prix always is. It’s great to be a part of it, although all of our thoughts are with Kevin (Boon). His dog was a champion, and we wish him well in the coming days and weeks.”

Lightfoot King, the Scottish Derby fourth, was out and gone in the second semi-final as he set the night’s fastest 640m time with a classy display – impressively winning off the front end to score by four and a half lengths in 39.20sec.

The Sheffield runner has challenged and seemingly checked away his chance in the heats against Donation (Heather Dimmock) but reversed the form in some style as he raced to a 15.78sec split on his way to victory over the Yorkshire Oaks heroine.

Both now line up in Wednesday’s £15,000-to-the-winner final, the draw for which was delayed until Thursday and took place at the GBGB offices once it was known a scheduled re-run at the north east venue on Friday was not required.

Sunderland finals form: www.bagsracing.com/assets/18-july—sunderland-adv1.pdf