SHEFFIELD’S first open competition of 2015 proved a hit with the locals in general and Barrie Draper in particular writes John Forbes.
The Draper kennel pulled off a double by taking the first and third qualifiers with the litter brothers Glenpadden Lord and Glenpadden Chief, who were making their racecourse debuts in the maiden event.
Glenpadden Lord took up the running at the third corner in the first qualifier and ran out a comfortable length and a half winner from Droopys Ewing in 29.13 for the 500 metres, while Glenpadden Chief was even more impressive in defeating Wendys Pride by four and a half lengths in 29.03.
Glenpadden Lord and Glenpadden Chief are part of a May 2013 litter by Ace Hi Rumble out of Glen Padden Bay, that is looking very useful, something that was emphasised by another Draper-trained sibling, Glenpadden Wood, who won an A3 on the same card in 29.51.
Next Weeks News, a 4,600-guinea purchase at the British Combined Greyhound Sales at Sheffield in October, made his first repayment with a head victory for Linda Stephenson in heat two, holding off Fearsome Code by a head in 29.28.
The draw for next week’s final is: 1 Glenpadden Lord, 2 Glenpadden Wood, 3 Wendys Pride, 4 Droopys Ewing, 5 Fearsome Code, 6 Next Weeks News.
Glenpadden Lord and Glenpadden Chief both made highly promising starts to their careers at Sheffield on Tuesday when the each won a heat of the track’s latest maiden competition, but that might not be the end of the story. Another of their siblings is waiting in the wings for his debut, which could be very interesting.
The unraced Glenpadden Rock posted a 16.06 for the 280 sprint just before Christmas and has followed up with a 28.18 run over 480 metres