[bennythedip2]

Blown away by all sorts of Derby investment

AS THIS is the first blog that I'm writing for the Racing Post, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Jon Ivan-Duke and I work for the Greyhound Derby sponsors, William Hill.

I've been given many titles, some of them aren't appropriate for polite company, but you can think of me as 'that William Hill PR bloke who occasionally pops up on RPGTV and struggles to pick a winner'.

This is the first William Hill Greyhound Derby that I have worked at and what has blown me away has been how much everybody invests in the competition.

I'm not talking about money necessarily, although William Hill have invested £200,000 and plenty of punters have dipped in to their hard-earned in the betting markets (well done if you still hold an ante-post slip for the Final - more on that shortly).

Leaving the cash to one side, it's about passion, determination and energy. This is the one competition that everyone in the greyhound racing fraternity dreams of winning and the overwhelming support it receives from trainers, owners, media, race-goers and punters is incomparable.

On Saturday night, before the Derby semi-finals got underway, Borneo was arguably the best performer in the heats for the Derby Plate, while Ricky Holloway proved he was the undoubted king of the William Hill Champion Hurdle with all THREE winners in qualifying.

I was on the track ahead of the first Derby semi-final and Alan Heard, part-owner of Droopys Ward, was a bundle of nerves. He didn't need to be, as Droopys Ward (or Socks as he's known at home) shocked odds-on favourite Crokers Champ by just edging him out with Salad Dodger also making it through to the Grand Final in third.

And in what seemed a blink of an eye, the second semi was underway and WHAT a performance from Mind The Net to earn his Golden Ticket to the Final.

I have to admit I was worried before the race about his chances of making it through and after the jostling round the first bend, I thought it was curtains, but he came right round the outside to get up. It's convinced me he has the profile of a Derby winner and he's the favourite for the Final, but anything can happen.

I'm excited ahead of the Final and I can only imagine how the trainers and owners feel.

I doubt there will be many hours sleep for any of the connections in the build-up and we now count down the hours in anticipation for the greatest race in the world.