A month until entries close for Star Pelaw's first ever Cat One
The Stewards Cup has been upgraded to Category One status this year with sponsorship from SIS and Star Sports allowing Star Pelaw the chance of their first ever event at this level.
First ever Cat One event at Star Pelaw
Star Pelaw reminds trainers that the Stewards Cup will be run again this year - but as a Category One competition, the first at the track.
Having been revived by the Chester-le-Street venue last year, the former Walthamstow six-bend showpiece was won by Tom Heilbron's Ballymac Sargie who became the first Stewards Cup champion in some 17 years since the race was last run at The Stow.
This year's event, backed by SIS and Star Sports, closes to entries at noon on Wednesday September 23 with heats over 590m on Saturday, September 26, semi-finals on Saturday, October 3 and the £10,000-to-the-final on Saturday, October 10.
Star Pelaw racing manager Dave Gray said: “It’s great to be able to upgrade the Stewards Cup to Cat One status this year and our thanks go to SIS for supporting the event along with Star Sports.
“We’ve got a cracking three-round event with a tasty first prize and will look forward to a gala card on finals night. Hopefully being a Cat One our local runners will be taken on by trainers across the UK.
"In fact, we're looking forward to a busy time with our open race-competitions over the next couple of months. The highlight is undoubtedly the SIS Star Sports Stewards Cup.
"This will be the first Cat One race staged at Star Pelaw. Running alongside the Stewards Cup will be the SIS British Bred Puppy Trophy, a Cat Two.
"The Stewards Cup was established last year with the inaugural running being staged as a Category Two, but we are pleased that with the sponsorship from the team at SIS we've been able to increase its status.
"On the greyhound front, our regular Saturday night opens continue to be well supported and one of the early front runners for the Stewards Cup might just be the locally trained Witton Gucci.
"Formerly trained by Jill Sutherst and Glenn Lynas, she made the final of the Angel of The North at Newcastle.
"New connections took no time stepping her back up in trip, recording two wide-margin wins over the Stewards Cup trip winning by a combined 18 lengths in calculated times of 36.07 and 35.73.
"She supplemented these with a victory over 640m at Sunderland last week and is certain to be popular in the ante-post market."
