Ferguson eyeing up possible tilt at the Arena Racing Company Select Stakes at Nottingham with kennel star Acomb Felix

Ferguson eyeing up possible tilt at the Arena Racing Company Select Stakes at Nottingham with kennel star Acomb Felix

Having won 18 of his 21 starts this year, trainer Kevin Ferguson is eyeing up a potential tilt at the Arena Racing Company Select Stakes at Nottingham with kennel star Acomb Felix, which takes place on August 25

There can't be many popular greyhounds currently in training than Kevin Ferguson's British Bred runner,  Acomb Felix. 

The March 21 whelp is part of a fantastic litter of six out of Hiya Butt x Acomb Ruby as all six have won opens. Acomb's Alfie, Irene, Jasper, Johnny and Mabel have also had over 50 races each, and in the case of Felix and Johnny, they have had 109 and 118 races respectively. But Felix has a place in many people's hearts. Not only has he won multiple Category Three competitions but has made the finals of numerous Category One finals, including the Produce Stakes, Steel City Cup and British Bred Breeders Forum Derby in 2023, the Laurels in 2024 and this year, reached the final of the BGBF British Breeders Stakes Final at Nottingham in a bid to retain the title that he won in 2024, ultimately finishing fourth behind Romeo Control

Acomb Felix extended his current win tally to nine following a sensational performance at Doncaster on Saturday when beating Easy Creed by five lengths in a lighting fast 27.20, just a length off his own track record time of 27.13 set in September 24 which is amazing achievement for a greyhound who is nearly four and a half years old and as a result,  Ferguson has his sights set on a tilt at the Arena Racing Company Select Stakes at Nottingham.

That winning run of nine is the second time this year that Acomb Felix has achieved that incredible feat. The first came at the start of this year as he won his first nine races, six at Sheffield, once at Doncaster and twice at Nottingham in the Category One British Breeders Stakes in the heats and semi final. That run came to an end in the final when beaten by the Patrick Janssens trained winner Romeo Control, but it was there where Ferguson believes that Acomb Felix may have picked up a slight injury

“I think he got injured when he got beat in the British Breeders Final at Nottingham and I didn’t realise”, he said. “He then ran at Sheffield and got beat at 2/11F and then at Perry Barr in the Laurels,  I definitely knew something wasn’t right as he came out of the traps well and couldn’t get to the bend in front and that’s never happened before. It turned out that he had a muscle injury in his back leg”

Having been off for six weeks following that defeat behind eventual winner Aayamza Sydney, Acomb Felix returned to action on May 25 with a winning run at Sheffield, and has been unbeaten since, with five wins at Sheffield, a win at Romford and Nottingham as well as a couple of victories at Doncaster and Ferguson laid out his plans for the coming weeks.

“I was thinking of putting him forward for the Select Stakes at Nottingham depending on what’s going to go for it” he said. “I’ll see who trials this week and keep an eye on things at the end of the week. He’s got three of the fastest eight times at Nottingham this year for the 500m distance, so he probably deserves to be in really”

“Looking back, we could have gone to Monmore for the Gold Cup with the way he ran at the weekend, but we will definitely have a look at the Select Stakes after seeing what else is going for it, and then after that we will probably go for the Steel City Cup at Sheffield.”

“ We just try to keep things week to week with him being four and a half years old now. Sheffield would be ideal for him as he’s won nine of his last ten starts there and knows the track inside out but hopefully he can get in at Nottingham first.”