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John Flaherty lands the BGBF British Bred Maiden Derby with Sirdar

There was open class greyhound racing at Hove and Newcastle last night with the latter having the final of the BGBF British Bred Maiden Derby.

Matt Newman

23 May 2025

John Flaherty lands the BGBF British Bred Maiden Derby with Sirdar

Sirdar breaks open race duck at the perfect time

23 open races without getting his head in front saw John Flaherty's Sirdar sent off at 5/1 in the final of the BGBF British Bred Maiden Derby at Newcastle last night. Just four months shy of veteran status, he got the better of kennelmate Greenwell Bolt by a neck with long-time leader Blackhousewalton the same distance away in third.

There was a double on the night for Jimmy Fenwick at very different ends of the odds spectrum. BresBet Gymcrack winner Elusivenomore was untroubled when landing the Arena Racing Company Puppy final at 1/2. Velvet Black was far more of a shock at 20/1 when turning over odds-on shot Naochra in the Arena Company Standard final.

Tom Heilbron also doubled up on the card courtesy of Deerjet Rocket and Clodcar Rosie. The former was getting off the mark at the ninth time of asking, though was considered good enough to run in a heat of the Derby. The latter has been keeping strong company over six bends but had no issues dropping back to 480m.

Although the second round of the Derby didn't go to plan for Brian Fairbairn's Slingshot Sam, he was back to winning ways at his home track. He had been successful in the opening round at Towcester and missed out on a spot back in Northamptonshire tomorrow by a neck.

Coolavanny Mercy has been in smart form at Sunderland in recent weeks, bringing that form back to Newcastle for Angela Harrison. An Angel of the North finalist last July, she now has 14 open race wins to her credit.

The other open on the card went to Knockalton Duza for Darren Little. It was a step back up to six bends for her and was arguably the top winning performance of her career to this point.

Hove doubles for Heath and Locke

Tullymurry Dylan has been out of luck at Romford of late but he has now won three of his last four starts at Hove, successful in 16.37 last night for Maxine Locke. Droopys Jiver added to the winners for Locke. He was third on his only prior start at Central Park in the middle of March.

Jason Heath had to wait around until the last two races of the night to pick up a pair of winners with Minstrels Six and Burrows Eclipse. The latter exited the Derby at the second round stage last week but got back to winning ways as only the fourth dog in 2025 to dip under 30 seconds over 515m.

Chelms Skint produced the top 500m time of the day for Paul Young, though that will have been scant consolation after a horrible injury to another runner earlier on the card. Intriguing Iris led the way over 695m for Nathan Hunt, clocking a very smart 41.60. That is the fastest of the year so far over that distance.

Belinda Green won the other six-bend contest with Swift Jarvis while another sprint saw a dead heat between David Dark's Ballydoyle Toby and Seamus Cahill's Cloheena Bully. Patrick Browne, Dean Childs and Gemma Byford rounded out the winners with Swords Hero, So Cool and Laughil Sean respectively.