The Star Sports Bookmakers & ARC English Greyhound Derby semi-finals, an original entry of 96 runners now down to the final 12. After persistent heavy rain throughout the afternoon, groundsman Paul Smith and his team deserve huge credit once again for having the track in excellent order for the evenings racing.
Head groundsman Paul Smith (left) and his staff did some sterling work in very challenging circumstances in the rain – pictured checking the hare between the two Derby semi finals. Photo: © Steve Nash
The rain had eased off in the races proceeding the Derby semi’s however it returned with vengeance in the minutes before the main two races of the evening. Southwood Jet took his winning record here in the UK to 7 straight wins. He looked well drawn on the rail and put to bed claims that you can’t trap from one at Nottingham.
He popped out nicely, hitting the line first time in 4.99 he made every yard in tough conditions, holding off Graham Holland’s Ballydoyle Valor in 29.97 with Noel Hehir’s Coolavanny Chick in third.
It was Chick who looked like taking that second place spot for the majority of this race but she appeared lose her action momentarily at the third bend was was passed by Holland’s charge soon after.
Distant Village ran another game race for Matt Dartnall, finishing in fourth place he missed out on a final spot by just 3/4 length. Deanridge Rapid trapped well enough but simply didn’t show the pace to the turn he needed to, he did well to reach the semi-final but connections would be the first to admit that he didn’t reproduce his pre competition trial form at any point in the competition proper.
He remains a talented greyhound and I’m sure owner Ray and trainer Alison have learned a lot about him over the past weeks. Knocknaboul Syd needed to clear the inside dogs early, he paced up well enough but couldn’t quite claim the lead he needed, after bumping with Valor at the turn his Derby campaign was over.
Semi-final two went the way of Graham Holland’s Wolfe.
WOLFE (t3) wins the second Derby semi final from Deerjet Sydney (t4 rails) and early leader Smurfs Machine (t5).
Nottingham 24th October 2020 Photo: © Steve Nash
I’ve heard this greyhound be spoken of as an enigma and other strange terms. He’s nothing of the sort, he’s quite simply a top-class greyhound, a superstar of the sport who even as he approaches veteran status is still doing his trainer and connections proud.
Wolfe had one off night in his superb career where for some unknown reason he stopped chasing at Nottingham’s third bend. Nobody will ever truly no what the reason was but this one blip on an otherwise faultless career doesn’t make him an enigma or whatever other puzzling terms some wish to place upon him.
We need to enjoy dogs like this whilst they are still racing, not falsely label them with tags that attempt to question the validity of their class. Modestly away from his trap 3 berth he still managed to clear the inside pairing of Churchill Holly and Lenson Whelan by the first bend.
It was Seamus Cahill’s Smurfs Machine who set the early pace though, hitting the line first time in 4.94 he cut the bend well and was a length clear of Wolfe as they hit the back straight.
This is where Wolfe does his running though, he once again took off along the backstraight but drew level with Smurfs at just the wrong time as they hit the third bend. He wasn’t held up too much though and had taken the lead by the time they headed off the last bend and held off Pat Buckley’s Deerjet Sydney by 2 1/4 in 29.96 as they crossed the line.
This was an excellent performance from Pat Buckley’s runner, he had a troubled passage throughout and left much more than the distance he was beaten on the track. Dave Mullins’ Troy Firebird stumbled leaving the traps, looked to move inside in behind runners and could never get competitive in finishing a well beaten fifth, he’s better than this showing.
Star Sports Betting 15-8 Southwood Jet, 5-2 Deerjet Sydney, 11-4 Wolfe, 8-1 Coolavanny Chick, 9-1 Smurfs Machine, 12-1 Ballydoyle Valor
