The pinnacle of the racing year gets underway tonight at Towcester with the opening round of the 2023 Star Sports & TRC English Greyhound Derby.
This isn’t primarily about the £175,000 winner’s prize that will be landed on July 1. This is an opportunity for a place in history. On the inscribed band on the famous Derby Trophy, alongside ‘1929 Mick The Miller’, ‘1958 Pigalle Wonder’, ‘1980 Indian Joe’, ‘1997 Some Picture’ and ‘2006 Westmead Hawk’, there is a small space for 2023 and the rest is blank. . . .
As the runners go to traps for the first round of the 2023 Star Sports/TRC Greyhound Derby, punters face their widest selection issues.
How will the Irish runners fare? Are their any trap biases? What about running styles?
We decided to look back to May 19/20/21 2022 for clues.
The first point to recall is just how well the Irish trainers fared.
From the 43 entries in 32 heats, they had 14 winners. Overall, 33 of the 43 Irish hounds qualified for the next round.
Favourite backers did quite well too, with 14 of the 32 races going to outright market leaders plus another four going to joint favourites.
Trap draw offered few clues with the exception of the stripes. Of the 32 heat winners, only two came from trap six. 75% of the T6s failed to make it to the second round.
Winning traps: T1-5 T2-7, T3-7, T4-6, T5-5, T6-2
Last but not least, 15 of the 32 winners were in front at the first bend. Only four heat wins went to dogs in fourth place or worse at that stage.
A competitive race to get this year’s Derby underway. Drive On Lad for Richard Rees proved his liking for this venue when landing the Maiden Derby here in April. He was given a well-deserved couple of weeks break before returning to the track with a couple of consistent trial efforts. He may not be the fastest around but he’s without doubt a model of consistency. He is however passed over from a selection point of view in favour of the Brendan Matthews trained UNDULATION. A classy bitch who was a finalist in the cursed Puppy Derby here at the back end of 2022 and very early 2023. Off the card competitively ever since she’s been laid out during a period of seasonal rest with the Derby firmly at the forefront of the plans of the ‘Newry Maestro’ and his team. The bitch will be 15 weeks this Saturday which puts her trial of 29.32 -30 last weekend into some perspective given that she is bound to come on for a number of weeks yet. If she can get through the first 2 rounds or so of the competition this lady should be hitting peak form and that could very well take her a long way. At this stage qualification is the name of the game but I still fancy her to be forward enough to land the spoils.
Graham Holland’s defending champion ROMEO MAGICO gets the defence of his title up and running in heat 2 and should take a world of beating. He should lay handy at worst to Tom Heilbron’s White Clover before powering past that rival by the third turn at the latest. The odds will likely prove prohibitive to most so in reality it’s a race to watch and enjoy but Magico should get up and running with a comfortable success.
A 3-runner affair in which all are guaranteed to qualify. Barrie Draper’s DISTANT PODGE has been flying around course and distance in recent weeks with a hattrick rattled off in trial stakes. Podge is another talented sort to emanate from the Sean Flaherty academy over in Ireland and he could go deep into the Derby. Seamus Cahill’s Maree Champion is the obvious pick for second and he should keep the selection honest throughout.
Graham Holland’s CRYPTOPUNK was a finalist in the Select Stakes at Waterford recently and he’s fancied to put a troubled run on what was his Towcester debut last week well behind him with a dominant performance. He missed the kick badly on that occasion but showed plenty to the bend. In a race where he wouldn’t have to absolutely fly the lid to lead he should soon be in command and setting the fractions in a race against the clock. Kevin Hutton’s Coppice Elmo showed what he can do when setting a new track record at Oxford towards the end of April but he’s far from consistent at the traps and is nowhere near the same dog when in behind.
Nathan Hunt’s ANTIGUA BIG SYD can smash out and make all from a perfect make up in trap 3. He was well beaten in a trial stake here earlier in the month but showed his wellbeing with a terrific 29.16 +10 trial last time out. Stuart Ray’s Blackhouse Harry is talented and won well here in a good clock last time out but he has his issues and isn’t guaranteed to reproduce the run even though the 11 days break since won’t have harmed. Barry Denby’s Ballyhimikin Mel is pacey but leaves plenty at the start. On paper she’s well enough drawn but I just fancy she’ll hit enough trouble in running heading down the back straight to ensure that if Syd has come away he should have enough rope to get home in front.
Kevin Hutton’s RIOJA JOEY hit 2yo this month and he has the all-round pace to go a long way in the competition. A lightly raced sort he has a nice touch of everything needed and he’s fancied to trap in front and not see another rival. A wide margin trial stakes victory a couple of weeks ago was followed up with an equally as impressive trial. Brendan Matthews Irish raider As I say is another lightly raced sort who stays well and can claim second place.
Last year’s Irish Derby runner up BALLYMAC FINN was maybe 2 or 3 lengths off what would have been ideal in his trial last week however he appeared to feel his way around the track on what was his first sighter. There is plenty to come off that and even if he’d prefer to be drawn off the fence a little Liam Dowling’s charge should have too much for his rivals. The English Derby has very much been the long-term plan for him ever since being picked up late in the Irish Derby final and there is no getting away from the fact that should all click into place he could well be the Kerry man’s best chance yet of adding the one major piece of silver wear missing from his expansive cv.
A tricky race to solve but for selection purposes I’ll take a chance that Liz McNair’s HAVANA BALE OUT comes away and gets herself into a prominent position rounding the first 2 bends. Paul Hennessy’s McNeill is talented and could be just the type to keep on qualifying but I’d prefer him drawn off the fence a little. I was surprised to see Mustang Jet entered up for the Derby after appearing to fold very tamely indeed after trouble at the bend in a trial stake earlier in the month. His stride was all over the place by the finish of that race and there hasn’t been too much time off for him since but he’s in more than capable hands in the shape of Dolores Ruth so it will have to be taken on trust that he is ready for action tonight.
SWORDS REX can complete another memorable Derby night for Graham Holland with him fancied to land the tenth and final heat of the opening night. He’s well drawn to follow up on his sensational track record breaking run in a trial stake earlier this month but he’ll have to be right up to his work with Liam Dowling’s very lightly raced Ballymac Walt fancied to put in a big run. Walt trialled well here last Saturday and with undoubted improvement to come he warrants both a second look in the without market tonight and in the competition generally as it progresses.
