Category One Betting Guides

It’s another week packed with competitions. Newcastle have the Northern Flat semi-finals on Thursday. Hove has the Coral Sussex Cup and Regency semis on Saturday.

Oxford has the Pall Mall semi-final stage on the same night. If you missed the draws for the Category One action on Saturday they were in the Monday Round Up.

Northern Flat

2/1 Wicky Ned 7/1 Antigua Eagle 8/1 Greenwell Ovett 12/1 Delvin Cat, Tonelagee, Untold Euro 14/1 Annadown Panther, Bogger Rambo, Romeo Crossfire, Slingshot Sam 20/1 Jacktavern Vegas 25/1 Ballmac Lineout 33/1 Brinkleys Magic, Monateen Webby 50/1 Catunda Ciaran, Mickys Tribute 100/1 Paisley Pirate, Popper Flenky

Coral Sussex Cup

7/2 Droopys Clue 4/1 Romeo Command 5/1 Candolim Monsoon 10/1 Newinn Syd 12/1 King Combs, Wasted Monday 20/1 Antigua Bingo, Antigua Forky, Beaming Panther, Miami Bullet, Never Say No, Newinn Benni, Ower Mystery 28/1 Uncle Freddie 33/1 Clona Curly 50/1 Clona Uriel 66/1 Gingers Rubin, Joes Sagar

PGR Regency

7/2 Ballymac Taylor 5/1 Coonough Crow, Queen Georgia 6/1 Cooladerry Dust, Haka Carlo 10/1 Baywatch Bullet 14/1 Bubbly Scorcher, Magical Luna 16/1 Alright Gordy 20/1 Riverside Shari 33/1 Burrows Sapphire, Move Over Ogie 40/1 Lightfoot Falcon, Littlers Nuke 50/1 Tromora Rex 66/1 Turkish Lira 80/1 Beloved Brenda 100/1 Hawk

BetGoodwin Pall Mall

3/1 King Capaldi 4/1 Aero Sacundai 6/1 Droopys Hanover, El Tornillo, Long Fellow 8/1 Druids Say Go 14/1 Cooliogold 16/1 Keefill Maverick 25/1 Madabout Peck, Nowitsmyturn 33/1 Darley Diglake, Romeo Crusade, Wrighty 40/1 Eze 50/1 Coppice Trophy, Crossfield Larry, Headford Sonny 100/1 Aero Convey

Ladbrokes Champion Hurdle

6/4 Dazl Hermes, Harlequin Ernie 5/1 Four From Two 10/1 Nunhead Shiv  12/1 Droopys Fivestar 14/1 Razldazl Randall

500 up for Paul Young

Time For Baileys helped Romford trainer Paul Young smash through the 500 graded winners barrier for 2024 on Monday.

Lining up in the fourth race on the morning card – an A6 – the July 2020 daughter of Laughil Blake led on the run for home to register a 16th career win for owners the Baileys Girls syndicate.

The now-senior performer formed part of a Young-trained four-timer on the day along with his 499th graded winner Joves Molly (35.94sec) before wins also for Droopys Fiadh (24.33sec) and Jeopardy Blaze (24.59sec).

“Everyone knows we’re one of the busy kennels in the country, but this year has been particularly good for us,” said Young.

“The dogs are running well, the staff are continuing to do a fantastic job, and we are playing our part in supporting Romford’s own busy schedule. 

“We couldn’t do it without the owners and we’re fortunate to have a good few in the kennel.

“Obviously Steve (Fluin) and The Champagne Club are central to what we do, but we also have a number of other syndicates and individual owners which makes for a good atmosphere on the occasions we can get together socially, either here or at the kennels.

“That remains important to us and what the sport can provide to people in terms of enjoyment.

“Yes, we understand the demands of the racing schedule but the greyhounds themselves are our priority – the owners know that – and we try to make the most of things when possible socially – and Romford remains one of the best for a night out!”

Opens return to Suffolk Downs

Seven open races on Monday afternoon saw three trainers with a brace of winners.

Patrick Janssens, Michelle Brown and Jason Ray split the honours on the card with Gary Beadle winning the other open. Yahoo Megan and Breton Molly scored for Janssens over 388m and 548m respectively. Brown saw Mohican Toad and Golden Acre win, the latter an October ’22 whelp out of a half-sister to the popular Bockos Doomie. Ray was victorious with Savana Bono and Intrepidity while Beadle secured success with Maori Man.

Tijuana track Agua Caliente closes this weekend

The final greyhound meeting in Mexico will happen on Sunday with the Caliente track set to close its doors. 

Originally built inside the horse racing track when opened in 1947, the popularity of the track has fallen away quickly. Said to be thriving just a decade ago, at its peak they had 1,000 dogs. The racing strength has now dropped to 150, all of whom will now need to be found a home. 

The closure of Agua Caliente will leave just two tracks in North America, both in West Virginia at Wheeling and Mardi Gras. Canada has tracks but only at an amateur level with no betting allowed. There are further states where greyhound racing is still legal but is not currently active. 

Since the start of the century, 48 tracks in the United States have closed, including the 10 Floridian tracks in 2020. Southland in Arkansas shut its doors in 2022 as did Dubuque in Iowa which had a unique location, built on Chaplain Schmitt Island in the Mississippi River.

Twitter change

The Greyhound Star Twitter feed will be moving at the end of this week. The old account will become inactive with @greyhound_star now the handle to follow.

Opens

Thursday: Newcastle ♦ Swindon
Friday: Romford
Saturday: Central Park ♦ Hove ♦ Yarmouth