Janssens looking to take command of the Eclipse
Romeo Command will return to Nottingham for a crack at the Premier Greyhound Racing Eclipse.
The 500m competition will host the next Gone To The Dogs – Live! broadcast with the £20,000 final showcased at Colwick Park on Monday, November 25, and Patrick Janssens is hoping his star British-bred can go one stage further than last year when eliminated in the semi-finals behind eventual winner Newinn Syd.
“He’s won the British Breeders Stakes there and runs Nottingham well, so will give the Eclipse a go,” said the trainer who sent out the Dave Firmager-bred and owned star to win the recent BGBF Greyhound Stud Book Trophy at Towcester.
“He’ll be going to Nottingham and then the British Bred Derby at Sheffield, but we really do take every race as it comes after his broken hock. He probably missed the prime of his career but still has 30 wins from 46 starts.
“He’s also only finished twice out the first three – and that is running against the best all the time. He really is some greyhound.”
Four opens at Nottingham on Monday night.
It was a struggle for the favourites last night as all four were turned over at 13/8 or shorter.
Allowdale Cazoo was the quickest of the three 500m races. Nathan Hunt’s bitch got her head in front for the first time since winning in the opening round of the Brighton Belle back in April. She was third in the final of that competition after winning the Peter Bussey at Crayford in February. Now she has that win under her belt, she might be ready to go on a run.
It was a case of patience rewarded as Tickity May won the 255m contest for Lynn Cook. It was her first open race win in her 93rd career race, her ninth in open company. The other two 500m races were won a spot apart by Southward Aki and Bogger Cash in 30.42 and 30.43 for Stewart Pedder and Mark Newberry respectively.
Joe’s Tips
***7.06 Central Park – King Presley
**8.07 Crayford – Kates Honey
*6.59 Crayford – Dal Flash
A disappointing evening on the tipping front at Nottingham last night sees us head into Tuesday for three graded bets.
Tuesday’s Best Bet
The Nap of the evening runs in the A4 at Central Park over 491m at 7.06pm where I believe it will be third time lucky for the very inexperienced King Presley from trap three. I put him up on debut as a value bet where he was well supported into favouritism. He led on that occasion before slightly tying up going onto finish third beat three parts of a length clocking 29.89 himself.
Trap two Franco Eolais ran from trap two on that occasion and finished second catching King Presley late on and although things did not go to plan for the latter next time out, I believe he can lead here and make all. He is only an April 2023 whelp so is learning on the job and it certainly won’t be long before he leaves A4 behind him.
Next Best
The next best is at Crayford in the S1 over 540m at 8.07pm. Trap six Kates Honey has burst onto the scene having won three of her first four starts with her only defeat coming on debut so she is seeking a four timer this evening. She has a brilliant draw to work from having a vacant trap inside her in trap five.
She has won three open races on the bounce including a category three competition on October 13 but her run prior to that in the heats was her most impressive display to date clocking 33.97 calculated when successful. A repeat of a 12.69 sectional should see Kates Honey go clear and if doing so I would strongly fancy her to make it four wins on the spin in tonight’s five dog affair.
Value Bet
The value bet for the evening is trap one Dal Flash in the A1 over 380m at Crayford at 6.59pm. This is a really strong A1 where King Snoop and Integral should head the top of the market but King Snoop could have his work cut out clearing Kopa in trap two who returns to the track following two months off.
Integral in trap six should have a solo out wide and will be staying on but if Kopa can do her Job by holding King Snoop for long enough, that could pave the way for Dal Flash to sneak around on the inside and get back to winning ways having won three on the bounce before an open race defeat just over two weeks ago.
Figures released from OLBG led research into greyhound stadium searches
An interesting study has been made into how many Google searches were made for each track.
Darren Brett is the tipster competition manager at the firm as well as a long time racing fan. He said “The data sourced by our OLBG team exemplifies that there is great interest from the UK public in greyhound racecourses across Britain, with nearly 850,000 Google searches across the 20 UK greyhound racing stadiums between October 2023 and September 2024.”
It is unlikely to be a surprise to anyone given the work that is done that Romford is the most searched for track. The worrying aspect is that Towcester is so far down the list for searches. Harlow comes out as the bottom of the pile for both the Google Review Score and the Annual searches.
PGR Classic trial session on Friday
The £20,000 to the winner competition looks to be shaping up well if the trial session is anything to go by.
The opening round is on Friday, November 1, with the final two weeks later. Tom Heilbron has a strong team headed by recent Bresbet Steel City Cup runner-up , Links Maverick. Untold Ruble won the ARC Puppy Cup at the track back in June, she is in action in the second half of the session.
Kent Derby finalist Droopys Manowar is one of the Maxine Locke team heading north for a look around. The kennel’s two recent Coral Silver Standard finalists, Droopys Bucko and Droopys Pharoah will also be trialling.
Crayford increasing prize money during their upcoming competitions.
A statement put out by Paul Illingworth, the Head of Stadia – Commercial for Entain read…
Further race reductions at the track
Crayford’s cards on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week will all have 10 races. They all run from 2.23 with the final contest at 5.12. Sunday’s card will remain 12 races.
Stats
- Ballyboss Rose – 3.41 Towcester – In A7, she is 5/9.
- Makeit Les – 4.56 Towcester – 8/14 in D1s.
- Classy Gorey – 6.02 Perry Barr – 5/9 when running in an A7.
- Elegant Elma – 6.42 Crayford – 6/12 from the red jacket.
- Nicky The Second – 6.59 Crayford – A perfect 5/5 from trap four.
- Ballymac Levi – 7.14 Doncaster – 11/21 in A1 grade when clad in stripes.
- Ballymac Acres – 7.51 Doncaster – 12/19 from trap four.
Opens
Friday: Romford
Saturday: Perry Barr
