British Performance of the Week - 1 June 2026

Deniro leads the way in the Derby semis

There is only one place that we can possibly start this week and it's with Ballymac Deniro who was a single spot off the track record with his Star Sports & Orchestrate Ltd English Greyhound Derby semi-final win. It was an absolutely spectacular success which has him at the head of the market for Saturday's Towcester final. 

Those who have read anything on here over the last six plus months will know the regard in which I hold Brunch Pal. He was the top performer at Central Park once more this week. His 28.58 stands as one of the top times of the year over the 491m, he surely has Cat One finals in his future. 

The quickest time of the year so far in a Romford sprint belongs to Nightingale Crew. He has taken a serious liking to the London Road venue so it is going to be interesting to see how he is campaigned from here with his competition efforts elsewhere not as successful to this point. 

One of the quickest improvers in the country is Wise Tournament who picked up a third straight win at Monmore. She has a lot more early pace than most in her litter who are staying types but that has worked in her favour as she is proving to be a very hard dog to contain when she goes around in front. 

One who very rarely turns in front is Savanaregimental. Diane Henry's stayer does all of his best work at the back end of his races and that was very much the case once more as he kept going late on to grab the money at Sheffield on Sunday afternoon.

Sticking with the stayers this week as at Hove it was Bubbly Amber who stepped up to 695m for the first time in her career at Hove and the extra distance proved no problem for her. She has a couple of 'held on' comments on her card at Romford over 575m but she was strong enough here. 

At Doncaster it was another six-bend winner for Rose Draper who has dominated the track so far this year. Cooladerry Dancer produced the second fastest time of 2026 over the 661m distance, getting the better of Jacktavern Beaut who was the most recent winner of this award three weeks back.

At the other end of the distance spectrum, there was another flying sprint time at Star Pelaw courtesy of Sunnyside Jayden. The track has seen plenty of very fast times this year so far and they continue to be produced with this son of Coolavanny Hoffa right back to his best in his last two starts for Ted Soppitt.

Mossend Gala has only been seen in a couple of races in England but she looked a potentially above average recruit at Star Pelaw on her debut and confirmed that position with a win at Sunderland on Friday night. It is going to be very interesting to see where she goes from here.

Completing our spin around the north east, we head to Newcastle where Zenith Tanju was back to winning ways with a very smart performance over 480m. It was only his third start of 2026 having been preparing to run in the final of the Derby this time last year. The Northern Flat would look the natural target in July as he builds back to his best. 

There were some flying times in the action at Nottingham this week, though no open racing as Monday's card was abandoned with the hot weather. It was left to Skeard Daisy May to take out a smart A1 contest on Friday. She had been distracted the week before but had no such problems this time around.

At Yarmouth, it was Too Wright who picked up the best run of the week. It was her first run in four weeks on what could have been her hat-trick winning race with a short-head defeat two starts back denying that. She has gone on a winning run of four in the past, so she may yet be able to do more. 

There was only graded action at Dunstall Park where veteran Cappaneale Rocky landed a blow for the older generation in his sprinting win. He took advantage of a drop into a D2 and that made all the difference to him. 

One who has been in this column plenty in the last few months is Coolemore Azzabi who took the Harlow prize once more. She is a really versatile type with some very smart wins over both two and four bends at the Essex venue.

Another who is picking up an award, and not for the first time is Epic Evelyn. She too has proven to be a decent type over both two and four bends at Valley, with a win over the longer trip helping her pick up the performance of the week this time around. 

We finish at Kinsley where Gizmo Panther grabbed the award for a sprinting success. It was his best performance since the backend of 2025 when he had been marked awkward.