Sunday Open Report- Bumper Towcester crowd see’s Janssens & Henry landing competition hat-tricks
14 Opens took place at Towcester on Sunday with the heats of three competitions taking place, the Semi Final’s of which take place alongside the Semi Final’s of the StarSports/TRC Greyhound Derby on Saturday. Star Pelaw, Sheffield and Valley also held Open’s of their own
Sunday Open Report- Bumper Towcester crowd see’s Janssens & Henry landing competition hat-tricks
14 Opens took place at Towcester on Sunday with the heats of three competitions taking place, the Semi Final’s of which take place alongside the Semi Final’s of the StarSports/TRC Greyhound Derby on Saturday. Star Pelaw, Sheffield and Valley also held Open’s of their own
Follow an outstanding evening of Greyhound Racing at Towcester on Saturday, the action continued at Towcester on Sunday Afternoon in front of a bumper crowd of over 1,500 people with three competitions kicking off. The Semi Final’s of the Time Greyhound Nutrition Sprint Trophy, the BGBF Truframe Champion Stakes and the BetGoodwin Derby Challenge Trophy will take place on Saturday Night running alongside the Semi Final’s of the Derby, with the Final’s helping to form part of a top quality Open Race card in support of the StarSports/TRC Greyhound Derby Final on June 14th.
It turned out to be a good afternoon for favourite backers as ten of the fourteen races were won either by the favourite or joint favourtite, with Patrick Janssens and Diane Henry both landing hat-tricks on the card.
Janssens is represented by Droopys Plunge and Slick Sentinel, who lowered the colours of Bockos Diamond on Satuday, in the Semi Final’s of the StarSports/TRC Greyhound Derby and he had a couple of winners in the heats of the Time Greyhound Nutrition Sprint Trophy over 270m, including Not So Slow (6/4F), who recorded the fastest time of the six heats when leading round the opening bends to record a four length victory in a time of 15.52, the fourth fastest time over course and distance this year.
Romeo Kingpin (9/4) was also on the scoresheet for Janssens when recording 15.80. Richard Rees, whose Churchfield Syd will also line up in the StarSports/TRC Greyhound Derby Semi Final’s on Saturday, enjoyed a winner in the first heat with Shadow Storm (2/1) in 15.64, while other heat winners went the way of Kim Billingham-Hine’s Newinn Souly (4/7F) 15.92, Roy Peckham’s Tullymurry Kane (8/13F) 15.81 and Rose Draper’s Rocking Taylor (15/8F) 15.73.
Janssens was also on the board with Romeo Steel (4/6F) who pinged the lids and made all the running of the opening heat of the BGBF Truframe Champion Stakes over 500m. The time of 28.72 was the fastest of the four heats, the others of which were won by Phil Milner’s Keefill Goose (11/10F) also in all the way fashion in 28.92, Diane Henry’s Savana Control (9/2) in 29.20 and Heather Dimmock’s Signet Morgan (11/4), another all the way winner in 28.93
Diane Henry’s victory with Savana Control was part of a hat-trick on the card, with her other two victories arriving in the heats of the BetGoodwin Derby Challenge Trophy over 712m, a competition which herself and Mark Wallis dominated between themselves, with two winners each.
Henry’s winner of the first heat, Savanaregimental (15/8J) was the fastest and widest margin winner of the four, crossing the line with a seven length advantage having made all the running in 42.47. The hat-trick was landed in the third heat when Savana Jackpot (8/13F) came from off the pace to score in 42.59.
Bombay Nutty (4/11F) also recorded 42.59 when winning his heat for Mark Wallis with Vhagar (8/11F) landing the double in a time fractionally slower in 42.61. With less than two lengths covering the four heat winners, this looks to be one of the more interesting competitions though it looks to be very short odds on the winner coming from either of these two trainers.
Ray and Foot kick on with Star Pelaw doubles
Star Pelaw hosted eight opens on their Sunday Evening card fifteen race card and it saw trainers Glenn Foot and Jason Ray both landing doubles.
Oxford trainer Ray made the long journey up north a worthwhile one as the first of his two victories arrived courtesy of Buzeys Lady (5/2), who battled well to secure a first Open Race victory in 25.93 (+20) for the 435m course. The double landed in the very last race over the rarely used 780m Marathon distance where his runner Intrepidity (11/8) proved too strong in the later stages from kennelmate Savana Clowns to record 48.02 (+40) which is the fastest time of the year over that distance.
Tonelagee (7/4F) was the first of Foot’s two winners when making all the running over 435m in the fastest time of the night, recording 25.41 (+20) while Ballinabola Eve (6/4) landed the double in the very last race of the card over 245m, getting up close home to score by a head in 14.84 (+10). Two other sprint contests on the card were won by Please James (5/1) in 14.63 (+10) for David Wilkinson and Sunderland trainer George Stark whose Carbury Cougar (9/1) made all the running in 14.93 (+10).
Jason Smith also made the long journey up north a worthwhile one as the Towcester trainer was successful with Westfield Vicky (10/11F), who was an impressive winner of a six bend maiden contest over 590m when coming from off the pace to score in 36.36 (+30)
Other four bend winners on the card arrived courtesy of Ronald Knights’s Cape Moon (9/4) 26.10 (+20) and Colin Watson’s Chippy Chase (5/1) in 25.71 (+20)
Sheffield & Valley
Acomb Felix (11/8F) was the only Open Race winner at Sheffield on Sunday for trainer Kevin Ferguson, when getting the better of kennelmate Acomb Irene by a head over 500m in a time of 28.13 (+20), while at Valley, there were three Open’s on their morning card, with Donna Davy landing a double.
Seeking Times (4/1) was an all the way winner over 260m in 15.98 while Jackies Princess (2/1) came from off the pace to score over 460m in 28.38. Anna Jeffery provided the other winner when her Swift Hunt (16/1) caused an upset when scoring over 260m in a time of 16.15
Upcoming Opens
Tuesday: Swindon
