With the much anticipated draw for the first round of the Premier Greyhound Racing Golden Jacket taking place today I thought it would be a good time to catch up with two lads who will have been paying a particularly close eye on the participants in the build up. I caught up with Crayford assistant racing manager and well respected judge Graham Banks as well as Ladbrokes head greyhound trader James Pryce whose opinion is highly respected in the sport.
The number of entries for the Jacket was down on recent years, but in some ways it’s a blessing in disguise as you don’t have to tell disappointed owners that their runner is only a reserve, and that we also didn’t have to spend a couple of hours discussing amongst ourselves who should be in and who should be left out.
The overall quality of the competition hasn’t been weakened though. The fact that Warzone Tom heads the betting at 7/1 instead of his 6/4 Ante Post price when he won the Gold Collar back in November tells you all you need to know about the quality and that connections of any number of greyhounds will be fancying their chances of outright success.
On the whole, most of the big guns have avoided each other which is good for the competition as every track wants to see the better greyhounds making it through to the later stages but there are a few interesting match ups of note.
The Heat One match up between the strong running Antigua Lava and Night Time Danny who moved well in trial over the distance last week, The Heat Two contest between Kishlawn Shakira, Blueberry Bullet and Burgess Elite, and the Heat Six contest between Salacres Pippy and Aayamza Dream all look to catch the eye, as does Warzone Tom in Heat Four, who will be looking to extend his winning run at Crayford to six having gone through the Gold Collar unbeaten.
It’s also good for the competition to have a good number of local runners involved, the pick of the bunch looking to be the Julie Luckhurst trained Burgess Bruno, who made a winning return a couple of weeks ago having been off since July and who ran well in defeat behind Bombardier when runner up in a trial stakes last week. I think Julie will be happy to have draw the heat he has and I think he could take all the beating in Heat Three.
As for an outright selection, that’s a tough one. Night Time Danny caught the eye initially when quoted at 25/1 and it looks as though plenty of people were impressed with the recent 45.15 trial where he looked he may even have more to come, and obviously Salacres Pippy and Warzone Tom both won Category One competitions back in November over a longer and shorter distance respectively and you would like to think that they will reach the final, and I will side with Pippy, as she can show good early pace and you know if she hits the front at any stage it will take a huge effort from another runner to pick her up, though at a bigger price Burgess Bruno and Piercestown Dove, who has won two from two over the distance and has a 45.44 time to her name, could be fancied at 33/1
The main thing is that all the runners come off safe and sound and hopefully we are set for a good morning’s racing.
We’ve taken a good spread of business in what looks a competitive and high quality renewal. Our worst results at this stage of proceedings are Bubbly Cristal , Bellmore Sally and Night Time Danny. At the top of the market my own personal selection would be Blueberry Bullet and the fact I’ve managed thus far to keep her onside is a plus. I think her running style will suit the two laps of Crayford perfectly. Looking at those in at bigger prices I’ve been impressed with how Burgess Bruno has taken to Crayford , winning a trial stakes by 10 lengths and then giving Bombardier a fright last week I thought was good form. I’ve currently got him in at 33/1 but it wouldn’t take much in the way of support to see me trimming him inwards. He’s the type who could just keep on qualifying.
