2016 Greyhound Derby
 

Great first round Derby heat win for champion 'Eden The Kid' (my only bet for the Derby) ;)

Forget the rest his winning time ' 28.21' at that time of the evening says it all for me.
The Wallis dog ran ok for 3rd to qualify, but there's nothing in the UK or Ireland that will beat last years Derby winner

1st 4 Eden The Kid 8/11 f
2nd 3 Stay Loose 3/1
3rd 5 Saffrons Boxer 7/1

Eden The Kid
 

This is how he won that 1st round heat > https://youtu.be/kSBeABp-nrI <

He's still best priced 10/1 with Paddy Power if you want an e/w bet for the final :eat:

2nd Round Greyhound Derby heats
 

We see the start of the 2nd round Greyhound Derby heats tonight (Thursday 12th May)

For me this years Derby is all about last years winner 'Eden The Kid' and having seen his first round heat last week (race video above) i've no reason to change my mind having backed him before the event started ..
Tonight he's priced at 10/11 in the 8.42 race (T4) and that'll do for me :brains: 1st . get in 5/4 . :D

So we're down to 96 runners in the William Hill Greyhound Derby as the second round kicks off at Wimbledon tonight.

We were treated to a fantastic three nights of action at Plough Lane last week as the Classic got underway in style and there were plenty of performances that caught the eye.

One of them was the dominant success of Jaytee Dutch (T3) and Paul Hennessy's charge is fancied to follow up at 8.58 this evening. 1st .. :D 6/4

Third in the Irish Puppy Derby last year and runner-up in the Gold Cup at Shelbourne in February, he is clearly a top-class sort but his trainer admitted beforehand it was touch and go whether he would line up in the Classic after a troubled preparation.

That makes his three-length victory over East Anglian Derby hero Do It For Twiggy in an excellent 28.24 all the more impressive and he should strip fitter for that pipe-opener.

With not a great deal of early speed on his inside, he can blaze trail in the white jacket again and hold the late challenge of last year's finalist Making Paper.

Another Irish raider fancied to make it two from two in the event Peregrine Falcon (T3), who goes in a tricky heat at 8.26 but looks up to the task. 2nd . 5/2 .. shade unlucky

The 2015 Irish Derby finalist also made the decider of the Easter Cup at Shelbourne in March and kicked off another big competition campaign in style with a three-length romp last Friday.

There is no margin for error with fellow heat winners Charity Buster and Viking Jack to his right and the speedy Clondoty Alex on the rails, but Pat Curtin's inmate is a class act and can turn in front with a level break.

With the potential of earlybirds You Never Listen, Bockos Bolasie and My Real Mutley doing each other no favours in a battle for the lead on the rails at 7.54, Yassoo Martin (T6) could get a dream passage out wide. 0 ..missed the break -out

The lightly-raced November '13 dog confirmed his love of the South London track when landing the odds in his heat on Saturday, once again showing a smart burst of speed to the corner.

That first run for two months should have done him plenty of good and a return to the striped jacket is also in his favour. ;)

For those of you having a bet good luck, and for me it's all about 'The Kid' . :eat:

This is how he did it
 

.. :brains: 'Eden The Kid' (T4) winning his 2nd round heat > https://youtu.be/lS6MQhQlnxI ... o:)

When it comes to the Derby finals he could be odds on .. This dog is sensational .. trust me .. now into 5/1 for the final ;)

Also look at this dog 'Jaytee Dutch' (T3) now quoted at 10/1 for the final but what a trier - https://youtu.be/o1jn-rTFck0 -

Given a clear run he should also be in the final :flyaway:

No 'run off' for dead heaters
 

With the withdrawal of Farloe Cody, it now means that both dogs who were to have a re-run after deadheating to see who went through and who was to be first reserve will now not have to have run off.

well done gbgb for making right decision. ;)

I'm still with 'The Kid' - but
 

Prior to the start of the Derby Eden The Kid was very much a member of my short list and he still deserves to be up there near the top.

But it is difficult to understand the thinking of the layers in having Eden The Kid as short as 11-2 favourite for the William Hill English Derby with fastest qualifier Ballymac Matt at 7-1 and the two Jaytee runners Dutch and Jet together at 12-1.

Yes, Eden The Kid was very impressive when winning his second round heat but as the competition gets tougher he is quite likely to be further back in the early stages.
Can you see him giving a three or four length lead to Ballymac Matt or one of the Jaytee dogs or the much maligned Droopys Roddick?

Granted, the luck of the draw is going to play a very big part from here on and I must say the Irish challenge appears to be getting stronger all the time. This year, remember, our top fancies are all strong stayers and they won’t concede leads easily!

Top prices on offer are: 11-2 Eden The Kid, 7 Ballymac Matt, 12 Jaytee Dutch & Jaytee Jet, 14 Droopys Roddick, 16 Droopys Latina, 18 Domino Storm, Hiya Butt, 20 Southfield Jock.

Do you notice anything? |<|
Not a mention of Peregrine Falcon, Lenson Sanchez or Lenson Rocky!
They are all available at 25-1 and that could represent a little bit of value judging by weekend performances.

Domino @ 18/1 is big, unlike most she doesn't have to lead. The fact I have her @ 100/1 doesn't sway me in the least :brains:

Derby 3rd round draw
 

Third round draw - Race on Saturday May 21

The last 48 for the William Hill Derby
Kennelling 4.50pm, racing starts 6.38pm, first heat 7.11pm

(live Sky Sports 3 red button or in betting shops via SIS)

Just the one seeding change:
Southfield Jock is now rails (from middle)

The first three qualify for Tuesday's quarter-finals.
The semis are Saturday week, and final Saturday June 4

No guarding of owners applied.
No further seeding changes can now be made

Heat 1 7.11pm

1 Blue Cafu

2 Noirs Allen

3 Castell Henry

4 Ceroc Grumpy

5 Ballymac Brogan (m)

6 Old Joe Golden (w)



Heat 2 7.26pm

1 Jaytee Dutch

2 Droopys Turin

3 Droopys Latina

4 Bockos Bolasie

5 Bubbly Torpedo (m)

6 California (w)



Heat 3 7.43pm

1 Ballymac Matt

2 Calzaghe Billy

3 Blakes Turbo

4 Lenson Sanchez

5 Bubbly Turbo (m)

6 Ajlo Legalbeagle (w)


Heat 4 7.59pm

1 Holdem Chico

2 Badmoonrising

3 Southfield Jock

4 On Alert

5 Ballymac Darragh (m)

6 Newlawn Ned (w)



Heat 5 8.16pm

1 Cloran Paddy

2 Domino Storm

3 Kentish Duke

4 Stay Loose

5 Imperial Express (m)

6 Jaytee Jet (w)



Heat 6 8.33pm

1 Hiya Butt

2 Honour And Glory

3 Peregrine Falcon

4 Shaneboy Freddie

5 Lenson Santi (m)

6 Crossfield Molly (w)



Heat 7 8.51pm

1 You Never Listen

2 Droopys Roddick

3 Deanridge Madbye

4 Eden The Kid (m)

5 Be Up Front (m)

6 Stay Lucky (w)



Heat 8 9.08pm

1 Lenson Rocky

2 Ginas Lad

3 Clondoty Alex

4 Droopys Ambition (m)

5 Dragon Overlord (m)

6 Boyneside Fun (w)

The draw for the quarter-finals will take place after the final heat.

9.30pm Saturday week, and it will be just six left! :news:

By Jim Cremin (Racing Post 2:02PM 18 MAY 2016)

AFTER all the helter-skelter surrounding the intended run-off between Badmoonrising and Jaytee Jet following their dead-heat for the last qualifying place on Saturday, its cancellation (no longer necessary following the withdrawal of Farloe Cody) then led to a relatively relaxed draw on Wednesday.

Yet the last 48 is when the Derby screw begins to tighten because it's the first of three quick runs: Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday.

Some greyhounds love it, others won't. By 9.30pm on Saturday week, May 28 we will know the six finalists, set for the week all owners and trainers dream of . . . with the Derby lunch waiting on the following Tuesday.

Of course anything that can go wrong may yet do so, whether a transport break down, sickness or racing collision.

But the sheer excitement of everyone involved is a joy, Wimbledon for the next fortnight is the centre of the greyhound universe, all those involved in Saturday have a shot at glory.

Here's a quick look at the heats

Heat 1

Ballymac Brogan looked superb last week, razor sharp and is set to ping out from trap five. Blue Cafu will go up fast from trap one, Old Joe Golden is perfectly drawn in six, while Castell Henry is a proper competition dog who will be battling on. Noirs Allen and Ceroc Grumpy are the outsiders.

Heat 2

Droopys Latina is progressive though seems to run all over the place! Droopys Turin will press in from two, unbeaten Jaytee Dutch needs to break better, as does Bockos Bolasie. California has an edge on the draw in six, while Bubbly Torpedo looks set for a nice run up from five.

Heat 3

Ballymac Matt was awesome last week, and has the draw. Lenson Sanchez is also unbeaten in the event, while Calzaghe Billy has proven that he is more than capable. The Paul Young pair on the outside have plenty of pace, as does Charlie's Blakes Turbo. This is going to be a right cavalry charge to the bend

Heat 4

Southfield Jock will need a fast break to avoid On Alert. The inside pair are battlers, Ballymac Darragh is capable of better, while Newlawn Ned showed great heart to go through. If Southfield Jock breaks, he puts it to bed, if he doesn't, suddenly it's wide open.

Heat 5

Jaytee Jet somehow survived his moment of disaster last Saturday when carted very wide at the first. He has a great pitch and should assert early. That said, Domino Storm has won her last eight! She has 36 wins on her card from 74 starts. That is incredible. She is in two with Kentish Duke and Stay Loose set to cut in from three and four. Charlie runs a pair here with Cloran Paddy and Stay Loose - who has faced (and run well against) two superstars so far in Eden The Kid and then Droopys Roddick. Imperial Express looks to be improving and has a decent draw.

Heat 6

Hiya Butt is another of the unbeaten runners and has trap one again. Peregrine Falcon looks in great heart. Shaneboy Freddie is highly regarded by Kevin Boon, while both the outside pair Lenso Santi and Corssfield Molly ran together last week and showed real zip. Honour And Glory will be an outsider but that hasn't worried him so far either.

Heat 7

Eden The Kid v. Droopys Roddick. The fact You Never Listen is sitting inside Roddick with trap one gives an advantage to The Kid, but it looks a tremendous race in prospect. The Kid of course is unbeaten in the Derby so far, and has been fantastic. Droopys Roddick is better pitched in two (had three and four previously), You Never Listen will need a break. The other three, Deanridge Madbye, Be Up Front and Stay Lucky face a stiff task, yet have all run well here.

Heat 8

Charlie's Boyneside Fun is unbeaten in this Derby, and has the draw. He will take stopping. However, Lenson Rocky and Clondoty Alex both won nicely in the second round and are bang in form. Ginas Lad, a Mark Wallis-trained kennelmate to Clondoty Alex (who he beat in the opening round) is also running well. Paul Young will be seeking to freshen up Droopys Ambition after her antics on the run-in in the second round, while Dragon Overlord is the likely outsider.

See you on Saturday, use the special voucher that offers free admission for four, cards and a free pint that is carried in the Racing Post - but get there early, not only to beat the queues. Racing starts at 6.38pm. Heat one is 7.11pm.
The quarter-final draw will be after the last heat.

Saturday (21st May)
 

Ian Brindle (SL) provides an overview of the William Hill Greyhound Derby as Sky Sports commence their coverage at the third round stage. :news:


The one certainty on Saturday is that we will see this year's Greyhound Derby winner but the puzzle is working out just which of the remaining 48 runners it will be.

From what had been one of the more prosaic renewals of the Derby, last Saturday saw the competition explode into life in a manner that exhausted every gamut of emotion.

Irish Derby winner, Ballymac Matt was to provide the first pivotal moment as he flew out of the traps to post a figure of 28.05 with Droopys Latina chasing behind.

Eliminated in the opening round last year, Kelly Macari's dog showed that run to be merely a bad day at the office and the bookmakers predictably dived for cover.

An even quicker time seemed likely in heat 15 as Lenson Panda thundered down the back straight to the vociferous encouragement of the crowd. Sickeningly, that joy was to be shortlived as the dog broke a hock, and in a further twist of fate, the well-fancied Jaytee Spartacus cannoned into the stricken runner and consigned himself to elimination.

Thankfully Lenny Ponder's dog has undergone a successful operation on the injury and will live to fight another day, but like Premier Fantasy some years before him, he exited the Derby with the irresolvable question of what might have been.

Connections were to gain a crumb of consolation as Lenson Sanchez took victory in the last of the second round heats but all eyes were fixed on what was going on some distance behind.

Badly baulked at the first turn, Jaytee Jet lost all momentum and found himself virtually off the track. A dozen lengths off the pace and in what seemed a futile pursuit; he stoically joined Badmoonrising on the line for a share of the final qualification slot and forced the Wimbledon officials to dig out their rulebooks.

With the withdrawal of Farloe Cody on Tuesday, a proposed run-off was not required and both runners deservedly took their places in the drum.

Eden The Kid propelled himself into ante-post favouritism for the Derby after his success on Thursday evening.

His running style may have altered since he reached the final last year but his liking for Wimbledon has not. Despite a couple of bumps up the run-in, he comfortably saw off Ballymac Brogan in a time of 28.24 and has looked imperious between the second and third bends.

He'll face a meeting on Saturday with Droopys Roddick. Pat Buckley's dog was able to dodge another banana skin draw last week after his next-door neighbour missed the kick. A noted competition performer, he is fancied to improve for a closer draw to the rail.

Nine Irish dogs have progressed to this stage and you'll do well to secure any bigger than 5/4 about an Irish-trained winner of the Derby.

Of those, Jaytee Dutch appeared unlikely to qualify, let alone win his second round heat, and the litter brother to Jaytee Jet has been the market buzzer over the last fortnight.

Available at 66/1 ahead of the competition, he was thought an unlikely participant having struggled to recover from a long-standing bacterial infection. Connections have taken their chances and the dog has shown plenty of guile in his two unbeaten starts so far. With a fair draw in the third round, the Paul Hennessy-trained runner is as low as 8/1 in the outright market.

The stats suggest that the fairer sex don't win Derbys but Domino Storm is giving it a jolly good crack.

The Oaks winner is one of the most popular greyhounds in training and Mark Wallis's bitch produced another robust display of front-running to secure her place in the third round.

And so to the point, where for many aficionados, the real "Derby" gets underway.

Three will progress from each of Saturday's heats into Tuesday's quarter-finals and with the schedule of three runs inside a week, the attributes of stamina and strength begin to assume much more relevance in the quest for a place on Finals night.

Good luck with all of your selections and here are mine for each of the eight heats:

7.11 T5 Ballymac Brogan

7.26 T3 Droopys Latina

7.43 T1 Ballymac Matt (NAP)

7.59 T3 Southfield Jock

8.16 T3 Kentish Duke

8.33 T3 Peregrine Falcon

8.51 T4 Eden The Kid

9.08 T6 Boyneside Fun (NB)