Star Sports Derby Preview Night

There has been one constant during all six of these years and that has been the enthusiasm and sportsmanship of Ben Keith and his company to ensure that our Derby remains THE DERBY that everybody wants to win.  The inclusion of the tag ‘English’ has been incorporated along the way but as with the equine version held at Epsom each year there isn’t a description needed , our Derby is the original and it is the competition which everybody in the sport dreams about winning.

One initiative introduced pre the Derby starting has been the preview night held at the Star Sports office in the Mayfair district of London.  An area as classy as the competition itself and an evening which though classed as a ‘preview’ has more of a feel of being an unofficial event opening.

Upon arrival I was met by a face familiar to myself for many years in Nathan Corden.  A man who loves the sport as much as any of us and who was eager to continue the work which he’d started at Nottingham and without a moments hesitation took up a consultancy position at Towcester.

I was introduced by Nathan to David Stewart head of media at Star Sports.  A man obviously passionate about the work he carries out for the firm and immediately clear to see why the company enjoy such a positive working relationship within the sports that they’re involved.

David is not alone though he is very ably supported by other individuals at Star and non least Kim Samzone who is Executive Assistant at the company.  Kim is well known to many throughout our sport having fulfilled many positions within it.

It’s difficult to become universally and genuinely well liked in our game but that is what Kim is.  Nothing is too much trouble for her and she fulfils her role so well due to the genuine passion she has for both our sport and our greyhounds.  If Ben Keith didn’t immediately realise how much of an asset he was taking on when employing Kim I’m quite sure he now does.

Also in attendance was Kevin and Dave Boothby along with their mother June.  A team who are doing greyhound racing proud.  At a time when others in the sport are attempting to close tracks this is a team intent on opening them.

Towcester was added to Henlow and Suffolk Downs (ex Mildenhall) was next.  With Oxford now just weeks away from rising again the future looks bright.

Those in attendance paid homage to Kevin and his team for giving the sport back much of the hope which has so sadly been missing.

To describe the evenings venue as a betting shop probably does the venue a disservice.

A classy establishment as you’d expect given it’s location people came from far and wide to support the night.

Not many travelled further than Ian Fortune who flew over from Ireland to ensure that those in attendance gained a professional insight into the challenge that those of us in the UK will face in the coming weeks.

As usual Ian had plenty of thoughts and arrived at the evening fresh from having completed the first round draw at the offices of the GBGB earlier in the afternoon.

Ian was joined on the expert panel by Martin Chapman (aka Lofty) the head greyhound trader at the Star Sports firm along with Joe Conneely (RPGTV Analyst) and Charlie Rees (assistant trainer to Richard Rees).  Charlie was a late stand in for Liz McNair’s assistant trainer Rab McNair who unfortunately couldn’t attend the evening due to a lack of available chauffeurs.  Non the less young Charlie gave an excellent insight into his capable team of Derby entries noting that he fully believed Amaze Me Seb to be the runner most likely to progress furthest and noting that he had been carefully prepared for the competition for some time now.  His running on style could well see him progressing a long way.

Joe Conneely shared the news of an unfortunate TFL injury to Carol Weatherall’s Candy Man picked up in a trial earlier in the day at Towcester whilst the assumption of both Lofty and Ian Fortune was that there are without doubt runners lurking in the pack that most likely will come to the fore during the rigours of the competition the greyhound they now all have to beat if the reigning champion Thorn Falcon.

Part owner Keith Allsop saw a long term dream realised when his Patrick Janssens trained greyhound landed the spoils at Towcester last year.  Keith was in attendance last night and said “He’s been kept quietly ticking along , he’s where Patrick wants him at this stage and he’s ready to go.  He owes us nothing but he loves Towcester and I’m sure he’ll once again give us a hell of a ride”.

After the chat and the official talk those in attendance were treated to fish and chips from one of the finest establishments in London.  Not a drop of gravy in sight however and that may go some way to explaining the non attendance at the evening of some of the usually high profile faces seen at greyhound functions around the UK.