Editor's Chair - Towcester set to blunt Diamond's cutting edge

Editor's Chair - Towcester set to blunt Diamond's cutting edge

I’ve been putting this off for a while. 

Floyd has done such a remarkable job of these Editor’s Chair columns for so many years that it feels almost sacrilegious that anyone else writes one. Time moves on though and now we have the first round of our top event of the year, the Star Sports/TRC English Greyhound Derby in the books, it’s time to put fingers to keys and get something out there. 

In true Floyd style, let's take the pin out the grenade and throw this out there...

There is little doubt that the Derby has lost a little of its lustre. I’m not old enough to have ever gone to White City for the Derby but have sat and heard many of the stories of years past. The crowds, the atmosphere...the lack of competition for the leisure pound!

While those days are long gone (as everyone who was there can’t wait to tell you), 2025 and 2026 are going to be two huge steps back in the right direction.

I don’t say that lightly. 

Those who know me would say that I am the chief pessimist of the glass half empty cult but there is plenty to be positive about. Towcester is having a glow up. It is not going to be perfect in such a short period of time but I defy anyone who went over the weekend to honestly say it is not a huge improvement on 2024. 

There is still a long way to go but Rome wasn't built in a day and nor can greyhound racing just flick a switch and put itself in a positive light in the eyes of the public who for too long have only heard one side's negativity about the sport. 

What the Derby needs is a diamond of a winner, but for me, it's not going to be the one that is currently sat at the head of the outright market. 

Bockos Diamond has been the ante-post favourite for the English Derby since landing the Irish equivalent in November. One of Floyd's previous Editor's Chair columns showed the chalk and cheese nature of the two tracks. It has been said that to win at Shelbourne, you need a Romford 400m dog, it is a speed track.

Towcester is anything but. 

Sure, it is quicker now than it was when the Derby first went to the track but the long run to the drop takes plenty out of dogs and as the competition progresses, it plays more of a role, strong stayer or not. On all known evidence, Bockos Diamond is very much a speed dog, winning his races with his brute pace to the third bend,

Pause the Irish Derby Final halfway down the back and he's three in front of Cheap Sandwiches, five ahead of Callaway Knegare, has almost seven on Singalong Dolly and nine on Boylesports Bob. They remained in the same order all the way to the line but Bob finished less than three lengths behind. 

His two races at Towcester can easily be excused for being undercooked but he still faded quickly from the three-quarter mark in the Juvenile and then had to dig deep to hold off Killieford Goram in the opening round of the Derby. 

A look at the clock shows that he took two and a half lengths out of Killieford Goram from line to line. The same dog at Sunderland had more than 11 lengths taken out of him from line to line by New Destiny in the final of the ARC Grand Prix, another race he led up. 

Different track, different distance, different dogs, of course. 

But, it was a run that did little to suggest that Bockos Diamond is a Derby winner in waiting at Towcester. -20 going would not have suited him so that has to be taken into account but the facts are that a dog who is a month away from being a veteran, who was being turned over in multiple A3s at Newcastle last autumn caused the red-hot favourite to pull out all the stops for a length victory. 

A 3.93 split on the way to stopping the clock at 28.51 (+10) had the greyhound world salivating after Bockos Diamond's second solo trial at the track. His first round display of 4.07 and 29.23 (-20) was an awfully long way short of that effort.

Perhaps Graham Holland has backed right off him? 

For a dog with any sort of stamina query, keeping as much petrol in the tank is key. It would make sense if Holland has eased off his star to take into account the long-term effort that is required. We will certainly learn more next weekend. 

There is little doubt that connections will feel that Bockos Diamond will grow into the competition as he finds full race fitness again, On paper, he has been gifted a first bend lead in the second round even if he is only produces a 4.07 once more. That should (in theory) see him in a much better light early on, but what about the run for home?

Phil Milner produced some very interesting figures showing each dog's first round efforts broken down into a sectional, a time to the third bend and the run from the third bend home. Bockos Diamond produced a 12.67 run home which was altered to 12.58 to take into account the going. Ballymac Lucia flew home in 12.24 and Rackethall Brute in 12.32, two who will be chasing Bockos Diamond on Saturday night. 

They produced sectionals of 4.13 and 4.25 respectively. It would suggest that Bockos Diamond is going to need to find his sub 4.00 trapping boots to get enough of a lead to hold off the late charge of the closers. That should be entirely feasible but at 4/1 outright compared to a pair who are still freely available at 66/1 ante-post, it's the least one would expect. 

Others worth noting from the quickest run home times of the round were De Lahdedah with a 12.27 and Lennies Desire at 12.25. The defending champion produced a 3.95 sectional to go along with that. Lennies Desire only clocked a 4.14 with promises from connections that he is capable of quicker. 

A 28.58 off a 4.14 in career start number 10 from Paul Hennessy's dog suggests a freakish talent but he and De Lahdedah are drawn together in a heat with Ballinabola Joe, a 28.62 first round winner and Blue Riband winner Table Toppers. 

It shows just how much luck is required with the draw to become a Derby champion as well as the sheer talent. 

Holland arguably has a pair of stronger wide running candidates with Bombay Pat and Cheap Sandwiches. Val Tashadelek could be thrown into that argument as well after a deeply impressive opening round win. 

Don't let the first round results fool you into thinking that Towcester is now suddenly a wide runner's paradise either. The 32 heats comprising the opening round saw 11 winners come from the six box. They were priced 2/13, 1/5, 1/3, 8/15, 4/6, 8/11, 11/8, 13/8, 7/4, 15/8 and 7/2. There were also a couple turned over at odds on.  Prior to the Derby, the striped jacket had a win rate of just 12% at the track in 2025. 

All of that said, this is one occasion where I would love to be wrong! The sport desperately needs a superstar to sell itself, a figurehead on the prow to cut through the wake of negativity. 

Over to you Mr Holland!