The Richard Yeates, owned, trained and bred Chantilly Lass (Kinloch Brae-Freedom Emma, Oct 14) held off Skinny Love to land the £10,000 Towcester Greyhound Welfare Graded Derby at Towcester.
The 9-4 joint favourite was beaten in the first round but earned her SP on the basis of second round and semi final victories. Drawn orange she led up and then held on by half a length to clock the fastest time in 43 races over the 480 metres, 28.53.
Richard said: “It was a superb night, like they all are at Towcester, and it was all about a bitch in form. She only just scraped into the event with a 28.82 on her card, (it was restricted to graded runners who hadn’t broken 28.80) and I was convinced that there would be a flyer in there who would win the final in around 28.20. But that never happened due to the diligence of the racing office who did a phenomenal job in keeping the event so competitive.”
Lass was from the last litter out of his 2010 Oaks winner Freedom Emma who died last year.
Richard said: “She hurt herself running around and needed a couple of stitches in a cut leg. We took her to the vets and all seemed fine. She next day she was as good as gold, but when we went to feed her in the evening, she was dead in the kennel as the result of a twisted gut, which apparently can be a result of the anaesthetic. Sadly, one of her daughters, Tilly Jess, who we had kept aside for breeding died of a similar problem a few months ago.
“As for Chantilly Lass, she has always been known as ‘Trouble’ in the kennel. She in only little, at around 55lbs, but has always been a handful. If you walk past her without stopping to pet her, she will pull the coat off your back. She absolutely loves every day of her life.”
