In the week leading up to the 2021 RPGTV Juvenile, the 2020 winner Ice On Fire returned to the track with a calculated 16.91 sprint trial at Newcastle.

To put the run into perspective, the fastest time over course and distance this year is 16.78. Last year it was 16.75, and in 2019, when Ice On Fire was Greyhound of the Year, it was 16.63. All times being recorded by specialist open race sprinters.

In fact, Ice On Fire only raced once in 2020, his Juvenile win at Sheffield. It was on the gallop on 7 July 2020 that the Dave Spraggon owned black sustained a small tear on the offside gracilis (the big flashy muscle on the inside of the hind leg).

The previous winter’s ante post Derby favourite ran five trials but the Jimmy Fenwick trained runner went lame again on September 21 and it seemed that his career was truly over. So what happened next?

Jimmy said: “He went to stud and has lots of pups on the ground with more frozen semen in store. At the turn of the year, Dave asked me how the dog was and I told him that he was flying around the place. He asked whether I thought we should give it another go.

“I gave him six gallops at home and he looked in great order and I kept taking him to Tom Peppercorn to be checked over and Tom was pleased with the muscle. You have to remember, that it was a burst blood vessel that put pay to him last year. But we were fighting time to get him ready for the Derby, which kept moving, and once the blood vessel burst, we were out of time. But it wasn’t the same as the original injury.

“Don’t forget, he was only narrowly beaten a head by Dilly Dilly in that last trial when he went lame. He had been in front of her until near the line and she won in 28.53 at Newcastle a week later.”

Given the personal tragedy that has befallen Jimmy with his mother Maerion dying last weekend, the Morpeth trainer was thankful for the sympathetic discretion displayed by the Newcastle management in not publicising Ice On Fire’s return to the track.

He said: “We obviously kept things quiet bringing him back. He is such a high profile dog and I really didn’t want to have to deal with the media before today. So I am very grateful to them for their compassion.

“As far as the trial was concerned, I knew that we had to be honest with ourselves. In my mind, even though he hasn’t been on a track since September, I decided that he had to break 17.00 today to have any chance of being competitive. Thankfully he has done that. Clearly the Derby would be the long term objective, but after what we have been through, we are all taking it one step at a time.

“He came off sound today and will have some more sprints before hopefully stepping up to four bends. We are hopeful, but Dave is a proper greyhound man and is obviously not getting carried away. But it has been a good day.”