The Category One BresMed Northern Sprint Final takes place this evening at Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield with a decider fully befitting the calibre of the competition.
Nic Brereton, founder of sponsors BresMed, committed heavily to this competition and he has been rewarded with one of the best quality fields of sprinters ever assembled.
Tonight’s winning connections will walk away with £8000 and a gleaming trophy, but more importantly they will be basking in the glory of emerging victorious in a competition which has firmly established itself as the primary goal of all of the leading two bend speedsters in not only the UK but now from Ireland too.
National Sprint winner and Romford Puppy Cup runner-up Calzaghe Flash heads into tonight’s final with yet another red draw.
T1 CALZAGHE FLASH Photo: © Steve Nash
Following Flash’s final gallop on Sunday evening, trainer Ted Soppitt said: “He’s gone really well. I’ve just about got him in the best shape I could have. He’d been set back, like a good few of mine, with sickness not too long ago.
“If you look at his weight when he ran on Lawrence Jones memorial night at Monmore, the dog weighed in at 34.3; he came into the trial stakes for this competition at 33.4. Though he won that trial stakes well, there’s no doubt that he’s a better dog with that little bit extra weight on him.
“I’ve got him just about perfect now. His gallop just now was the first he’s had in weeks; the ground has simply been too firm to risk him. For a dog that thrives on his work that’s been a major negative, he’s been going into his races too fresh.
“There will be no excuses on Tuesday, I think with a level break he’s the dog they’ve all got to beat. They tell me trap one isn’t a good box to break from at Sheffield. That maybe so but we’ve got what we’ve got and there will be no excuses. It’s a great competition, fair play to Nic and the team at Bresmed, they’ve once again put on a great competition”.
Early price: 4-1
Outsider Magical Houdini lines up for Patrick Janssens from trap two. A winner of 9 of his 23 career starts. A winner at the end of March of the £3,000 to the winner Kent Silver Salver at Central Park, Houdini has qualified for tonight’s final by finishing third behind Roxholme Nidge in the first round and then second behind Gislebertus in the semi final.
Patrick feels that although he’s done well to make the final, his pre-race odds of 20/1 under rate his chance somewhat. He said “It’s a great final and a race we’re proud to be involved in. I’d like to thank Nic Brereton and BresMed for their continued support of the sport.
“The people at Sheffield , as usual , have been great too.
T2 MAGICAL HOUDINI Photo: © Steve Nash
“Houdini I’m told is 20/1 in a couple of places, those kind of odds are a bit of an insult to the dogs ability really, if he times his break right, he’ll not be far away”.
Early price: 20-1
In white is the triple Category One race winner Roxholme Nidge, a greyhound whose class can only truly be appreciated when set against his win strike rate.
Stepped down in trip after winning consecutive Steel City Cups, some wondered if he would be able to transfer his early four bend pace to a true sprint distance and in against true sprinting types.
Hayley Keightley and her team don’t maintain an open rate strike rate of 40% year after year (it is currently 47%) without knowing which races and competitions are best for their select team of greyhounds.
T3 ROXHOLME NIDGE Photo: © Steve Nash
Assistant trainer Mark Keightley said: “It was a professional performance from Nidge in the first round and we are hoping that the error he made in the semi final, mistiming his start and then a little judder after a stride can be forgotten, with a usual sensible exit on Tuesday from what in my opinion looks the best possible make up he could have hoped for.
“He’s more than capable of holding his own early with the rest of the field off a sensible break, but he does need to break sensibly. In against four bend types, he can get away with a slightly mistimed break and still have the gears to get by them soon enough, these are the best sprinters around though, so although he may not need a smash, he certainly needs to come away sensibly.
“We’re delighted with the condition we’ve got him in, he’s very well and it would be a fantastic achievement for the dog if he were to land what it without doubt the flagship competition in the sprinting division. Whatever happens on the night though, he will, as he always does give it his absolute best.
“God willing he comes off from the race sound and then we can turn all of our attentions onto the Derby at Nottingham and going as deep into the competition as we possibly can. I’d like to thank BresMed for all they put into the game, they’re a breath of fresh air and have my sincere thanks for all they do for the sport”.
Early price: 2-1
T4 GRAYS CUP WINNER – Magnificent pic of Grays Cup Winner (t4) disputing the early lead with Calzaghe Flash (t5) before going on to Coral Puppy Cup victory. Photo: © Steve Nash
Grays Cup winner heads into trap 4 this evening for Romford based trainer Phil Simmonds. A winner of 11 of his 23 career starts, Grays Cup Winner had spent all of his time at home track Romford until showcasing his talents at Sheffield more recently.
A Friday night winning machine around the Essex circuit, he’s taken to Sheffield like a duck to water. A winner of 3 of his 5 races around here, he’s run out an impressive winner of both his heat and his semi final.
Nathan Hunt, GBGB kennel hand of the year for 2018 and assistant trainer at the Simmonds kennel said: “Grays Cup winner or ‘Barry’ as he is known to us has had 5 runs at Sheffield now with 3 wins and 2 seconds. He is getting better with each run.
“He only trapped moderately in the semi final but the pace he showed to the bend was simply awesome. He held off Nidge most of the way to the pick up, we were delighted with that and the warmer weather is definitely helping him to get home that bit stronger in his races.
“The draw on paper looks ideal, he won the puppy cup from the same position, we’ve got to trap though, I’m not sure we’d get away with the same kind of break as in the semi final, not in a race of this quality. Big thanks must go to Nic Brereton and BresMed”.
Early price: 10-3
T5 GISLEBERTUS Photo: © Steve Nash
Gislebertus, lining up from trap five, is a dog that is bringing the undoubted training talents of his trainer Belinda Green to the attention of the wider public.
A winner of 9 of his 26 career races, Bert has simply been a revelation for Belinda and his team of owners.
She said “To get to a final as classy as this is, it’s simply amazing for our team here at Greens greyhounds. The owners of Bert have really supported the kennel, I give them all some stick, especially Jason Gander, but without lads like them supporting us, we’d not have dogs like Bert and wouldn’t be where we are.
“They have my thanks, as too do the sponsors for putting on such a fantastic competition. We’re a big price, but Bert is such a game little fella, he gives it his all each time he races. One thing we’ve learned with Bert is the more he runs at a track, the more comfortable he becomes. He gets better and better.
“He has often been the underdog in his races, but that suits us just fine. We’ll obviously need a bit of luck, but given a little space the boy can run and I can think of not better dog to land us what would be our first category one win”.
Jason Gander, Star Sports bookmakers greyhound odds compiler and member of the loyal team of owners that follow Bert wherever he goes, added: “Bert is owned by myself, Martin Chapman (more commonly known as Lofty !), Sam Dunn and Brian Moloney.
“We’re in a bit of a dreamland really, we entered Bert for the competition as we really believe in the dog and believe massively in the training ability of Lindy. That said, when we saw the entry list for the competition, it was beyond our wildest dreams that we would make the final. The competition was filled from top to bottom with quality.
“It certainly did BresMed proud that’s for sure and Nic Brereton must be delighted. We purchased Bert last summer so that we could hopefully give Lindy a good dog to go to war with in some good competitions. Highlight so far has to be winning 5 open races in a row around Crayford, after that we were knocked out of the Golden Sprint at Romford at the semi final stage. We were unsure which direction to go in then, but we had a look at the calendar and the feeling was mutual between us all that we just had to give the BresMed a go.
“He’s a dog that improves the more he runs a track, so fingers crossed he can step up once more and run above his final odds of 20/1. Whatever happens on the night he’s done us proud and his performances have been a credit to Lindy and partner Gary Whittington.”
Early price: 20-1
T6 COOLAVANNY DYLAN Photo: © Steve Nash
Anybody that can point me in the direction of a greyhound who has been handled as well as the Kirsty Grayson trained Coolavanny Dylan will be doing well.
A winner of 13 of his 22 career races, Dylan is a dog who started life off in D3 grade here at Sheffield, won D2 and D1 and has since been winning opens on home soil for fun.
A greyhound with huge pace and though he’s draw a little wider than would be deemed ideal, he remains a danger to all in the final and a dog that knows the contours of the track better than any other around.
Kirsty said: “We are absolutely delighted to be involved in such a fantastic competition, it means the absolute world to us as a kennel to reach a final of this quality. I’d say it looks to be one of the best sprint finals in recent times, to say we’re proud of our boy is an understatement.
“It was just over 12 months ago that we took over the kennels based at Owlerton stadium, we had a couple of spaces to fill and as we often do contacted Shane O’Gorman to see if he knew of anything that would suit us. Shane told me about a couple of litter brothers that were not quite meeting the expectations of Noel Browne (Coolavanny prefix), that were available.
“We bought them both without question and gladly Dylan was one of them. We’ve so far stuck to Sheffield with Dylan, he’s running well and winning races regularly here so there has been no need to change something that isn’t broken.
“That said we will look around at what’s coming up elsewhere, be that sprinting or maybe even the short four bend competitions. The invitational sprint race on Derby final night at Nottingham is an obvious consideration.
“We’d like to thank sponsor Nic Brereton for putting this event on and we would also like to thank Sheffield stadium for giving us the opportunity that they did just over 12 months ago. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind and if we were to win tonight’s final, it really would be the icing on the cake.
“We’ve a pretty full kennel at the minute, but there is always room for a good class dog and hopefully Dylan’s record has shown that given the right tools, we can do the job”.
Early prices: 7-2
Sponsor Nic Brereton said “We are proud to sponsor the competition at Sheffield. I love the sport and it is an honour to have seen this event grow with each passing year. The entry this year was simply fantastic. It was an A-Z of the best sprinters in training and as such it’s no surprise to see a final line up containing such quality in depth.
“Whichever greyhound emerges victorious this evening will need to be at their very, very best. Nothing less will suffice in a field of such class. We’re looking forward to a good night, the team at Sheffield, led by Dave Perry, do a fantastic job, the hospitality is second to non and they have my sincere thanks for being a top class host to the sponsorship of BresMed”.
Dave Perry, venue director at Owlerton Stadium said “We really have been spoilt in recent times with the quality of open race greyhounds that we’ve had running around Sheffield. We’re delighted with the quality of entry that we receive time after time, some of the finals we’ve had at the track just lately have been simply breathtaking and have had everybody in the sport sitting up and taking notice.
“I’m pleased for Nic Brereton that his sponsorship has been rewarded with a great final. His BresMed Northern Sprint competition really has become a staple on the Sheffield open racing calendar and I know from speaking to the trainers that it’s a competition they all strive to win. I’m sure it will be another great night and I wish all connections the very best of luck as they attempt to land the richest sprint race in the calendar”.
A reminder of the semi finals
