Shelbourne next for Oaks heroine Go?

Druids Say Go, an awesome winner of the Premier Greyhound Racing Classic, is set to take on Ireland’s best with a trip to Shelbourne Park.

The Winter Festival is being looked at, as opposed to the option of Irish Derby final night, but Patrick Janssens is favouring Ireland over a crack at the Premier Greyhound Racing Eclipse at Nottingham.

“We stepped her up at Yarmouth and then again at Perry Barr, but Nottingham just might be too much – then again maybe not!” he said. “She’s just an outstanding bitch who is a pleasure to train and maybe we should give Ireland a go.

“The group who own her – the Value Racing Club – are a great bunch and they love their sport. They’ve got horses but Flamingo is doing the business for them on the greyhound tracks and she’s getting a bigger following all the time.

Winning the PGR Oaks

Druids Say Go (t2) leads Icemans Girl (t3) and Droopys Eunice (t4) on the run to the first bend in the PGR Oaks Final.
Photo: © Steve Nash

“Perry Barr on Saturday was great. We knew she was up against a good field and had to do it right, but once the traps opened you knew she was away.

“The time was exceptional also. Our own Coolavanny Shado has the clock there (27.77sec) but Flamingo was only five spots off that – which isn’t bad for a bitch in the last weekend of October! We’re delighted to have her.

“I’d like to thank Cheryl and Ria, as well as Ron Mills. I couldn’t do any of it without them. I’d also like to thank the Oaks sponsors and Perry Barr itself.

“From the kennel staff, to the racing office and the track’s management, they are a pleasure to deal with.”

Janssens has outlined the likes of Barntick Bear and his other Perry Barr winners on Saturday, Romeo Steel and Crossfield Enzo, as likely runners for the Premier Greyhound Racing Eclipse.

The final of the Nottingham event on Monday, November 25, will be the centrepiece of the third Gone To The Dogs – Live! broadcast after Yarmouth and Romford.

Nottingham Tips from Joe

***8.54 Nottingham – Noirs News
**7.44 Nottingham – Missile One
*8.19 Nottingham – Scatter Milo

Two weeks to go until the start of the Premier Greyhound Racing Eclipse at Nottingham with two trial stakes taking place this evening. Seamus Cahill is well represented in both and can land the double. Also on the card is a sprint open over the 305m trip.

Tonight’s Next Best

The first trial stakes at 7.44pm sees the highly thought of Missile One run from trap five. He’s looking to get back to winning ways after some costly defeats that has seen Seamus Cahill’s charge go five without a win. He looks drawn to go well with Links Weapon on his immediate inside in trap four, a tight railer when given room to do so. That can allow Missile One a clear run around bends one and two and should have enough to be in front of Birmingham Cup fourth Tricky Wiggles who runs from trap six. If Missile One is in front of the strong running stripes, he should go onto win with Tricky Wiggles chasing him home in second.

Monday’s Best Bet

The second trial stakes at 8.54pm sees recent Champion Stakes runner-up Noirs News likely to go off favourite from trap six. He ran a stormer to finish just under six lengths behind New Destiny at Romford ten days ago. Now at a big galloping track, he can again show his versatility by taking this trial stakes with Faithful Friend the main danger.

Similar to Missile One, Noirs News should gain a clear passage throughout on the outside. There wouldn’t be too much natural early pace in the race so he should turn extremely handy this evening. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him in front going down the far side and if leading at any stage, Noirs News will go on to win.

The Arc Sprint Trophy at 8.19pm can see Doncaster raider Scatter Milo confirm the recent form with Kennel mate Skywalker Dino to land the spoils. They’ve met on numerous occasions recently. Scatter Milo won well on October 22 beating the latter by a length and a half. Although not drawn ideally in trap four, Scatter Milo can drive the first bend to go on and beat Skywalker Tino giving Jimmy Gaskin a one-two.

Calling out for Future Stars!

Sunderland reminds owners and trainers of British-bred runners that entries for the BGBF Future Stars Puppy Trophy close tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon.

For a maximum 24 British-bred youngsters, heats are scheduled to run alongside the heats of the £20,000 Premier Greyhound Racing Classic – also closing to entries tomorrow.

The first prize for the Category Two competition over 450m is £7,500.

Droopys Stud Fair Warrior Final

The two big guns fight out the finish in a messy race.

Born Racer had been beaten by Road Exile in the first round and the semi-final. He turned that form around at the perfect possible time for Jennifer O’Donnell. The draw next to the rails helped him hold his position on the inside of Scarborough Fair who led up but them moved off at the opening bend.

Road Exile closed with every stride to the line, eventually going under by a neck. Zippy Canning bore the brunt of the trouble after pacing up well with Manalishi Jet also inconvenienced. Killeshil Ranger walked out and was never able to get himself involved.

A seven timer for Ricky Holloway

All seven wins came in the last eight races on the card.

Three of those were a sweep of the hurdles contests. Harlequin Ernie was impressive in his 380m win with Four From Two winning the six-bend hurdle. Mickys Tribute made a winning start over obstacles for the clean sweep.

Slick Sabo took the scalp of Havana Top Note in a 540m contest, victorious in a rock-solid 33.48. Quickest of the year over 540m is Miss Syd who dead heated with Razldazl Amanda (also Holloway) in a 714m race. Cloheena Rodney and Time To Talk completed the domination.

Julie Luckhurst had a double courtesy of Nicky the Second and Earls Ruby. The first named completed his Crayford bingo card with his first open race success after working his way up the graded ladder. Droopys Tootsie for Allison Kelly-Pilgrim, Hellofavalentine for Tony Collett and Kira for Robert Emery completed the winners.

Towcester veteran produces a career best

Romeo Command continues his incredible run of form at Towcester.

For all the stats on his Towcester career, have a read of the British Performance of the Week. He has been a remarkable performer at the track for a long time now. That continued yesterday with a stunning 28.59, the quickest time that he has produced over the 500m trip. Patrick Janssens would also see his Droopys Doughnut get the job done in the concluding contest.

The clash between Keefill Maverick and Bockos Sapphire had looked one of the races of the day on paper. A short head separated them at the line with Phil Milner’s dog coming out on top in 29.10.

Tommys Lotto won the sole six bend contest for Carol Grasso with the sprint going to Pavilion Team for Mark Wallis. Further 500m races went to Maxine Locke’s Ballymac Kobe, Laurence Tuffin’s Fabulous Aria and Ela Maestro for Chris Hamblin.

Return to 660m just the ticket for Willie

Farneys Willie justified the short odds for Richard Wales.

His recent runs over four bends saw him check halfway down the back second time but he had plenty in hand to run out an easy winner. Sheffield suits him well and he continues as the flag bearer for the kennel.

Tom Heilbron had a double on the afternoon. Innfield Storm is a pup with plenty of potential, winning the standard final in 29.04. Clodcar Rosie was the other winner for Heilbron. She won over six bends for the first time.

The extended six bend contest went to Chris Fereday’s Millridge Tanic. Third in the 2023 St Leger final, he has won two of his last three races at Sheffield. Easy Ghosty was the other winner on the card. He stepped up to 480m for the first time since March for Gwyneth Rees.

Irish Derby Tote Pools

The 12.5% reduction starts from the quarter-final stage which is on November 9.

To take advantage of the Tote reduction across the final three rounds of the Irish Derby, UK customers need to have a Barking Buzz account. It can take a week for an account to be verified so if you want to bet into the pools, the Irish Tote advise that you get an account created now!

Stats

  • Emers Macie – 4.03 Sunderland – 9/16 in D2 from the red jacket.
  • Links Weapon – 7.44 Nottingham – 6/12 at the track.
  • Blackhill Jack – 8.15 Enniscorthy – 7/10 at the track.

Opens

Thursday: Swindon

Friday: Romford