It should have been a celebration of an eighth Sunderland Puppy Derby (ARC Puppy Trophy) for Ted Soppitt with Biscuit Billy. But it all honesty, the 2022 decider will be remembered by most dog folk for the bizarre performance of odds-on favourite Arkady. Here is a recording of the race with with early section reduced to half speed. The favourite is in three. The winner went from stripes.

No one was more surprised at the performance of Arkady than Ted Soppitt who had been blow away by his pace in the earlier rounds. But Ted also has personal experience of the frailties of puppies.

Between May 6 and June ran five consecutive solo trials between Sheffield and Sunderland. Why?

Ted replied:”He got himself into checking at the pick-up in races. He was just so keen, he was waiting for the hare to stop at the pick-up after sprints and it became a habit that took a little while to break.

“As far as David’s dog was concerned, I think he lost concentration. He has been dominating races from the front and then Billy came through the bars. He looked at the black, but didn’t go towards him. You can’t really say that he was distracted because of the height of the track. Also, he has had a few races now, here, and in Ireland.

“I had Billy’s half brother, Blackstone Milo who was a very very fast greyhound. He did 16.79 for the sprint at Newcastle but was knocked over in his first race and it affected him his whole career. He did 28.35 at Newcastle in his next race but the damage was done. He never did anything wrong but was always wary if there were dogs around him. These setbacks can happen with young dogs.”

 

Biscuit Billy is an August pup by Ballymac Best out of Calzaghe Jan who was a decent open race stayer for Soppitt and Billy’s owner John Monk. The litter was bred by Paddy ‘Blackstone’ Sinnott who is based near Kilkenny.

Ted said: “John has a dog out of every litter and the first litter also included Skywalker Barry (Juvenile Derby, Select Stakes, Gold Cup). We asked Paddy to put a mark on Billy’s card and he did 16.84 in his first time ever in the boxes at Kilkenny followed by a 16.56. He wasn’t schooled, John owned him anyway, so we weren’t looking for a fast time. Paddy said ‘I think you have another special one here.’

“How good is he? I honestly don’t know. He only has eight races on his card and he could be the best of my eight winners. His 4.77 sectional is just rapid and he was only 11 spots slower than Brookside Richie who is probably the fastest dog in the country over that distance at the moment.

“We haven’t made too many plans. He looks like the sort of dog who might get the 500 metres at Towcester one day. Sunderland is only 450 metres but it is a very tough trip. I’ve seen dogs struggle to see it out but then do 28.40 at Newcastle. That might be too early for him at the moment, but Oxford might be interesting when it opens.”

Biscuit Billy & Ted Soppitt