British Performance of the Week - 13 October 2026

Picture - Tom Heilbron's X feed

Sargie retires with one final salute to the judge

Another hugely busy week of Category One action with six in progress. The one that came to a conclusion was the SIS/Star Sports Stewards Cup at Star Pelaw, with Ballymac Sargie winning the contest for the second year in a row. Tom Heilbron's veteran was helped a bit with trouble behind but he had pinged the lids to put himself in a winning position in the first place. He was retired afterwards, ending his career on the highest of highs.

One who hopefully has a long way to go until he retires is Underground Gold. He was marginally the quickest of the three semi-final winner in the Premier Greyhound Racing Kent Derby at Central Park on Saturday evening by a single spot over Scooby The Lady. Given the lineup, it has the potential to be one of the races of the year, we just have to hope with five railers, it's as clean run as possible. 

Another Category One that reached the semi-final stage was the BetGoodwin Steel City Cup where Woltemade was the quickest winner. He has had a remarkable year and will take a serious amount of stopping if any other dog is to take over the top spot in Greyhound of the Year where he currently is. Another win on Sunday surely puts the cherry on top of the cake for the 2026 title. 

Two Category One competitions are in motion at Dunstall Park at present. Strike It Skye was quickest in the Premier Greyhound Racing Oaks second round as she had been in the first, but the performance of Magical Jason just won him the award. It was the opening heat of the Arc Scurry Gold Cup where he went one spot off the track record for Kevin Hutton. Still unexposed, he is an outstanding sprinter already who could have more to come. 

The final Cat One in motion is the Coral 100 Champion Stakes where Newinn Jolly blitzed his way to the fastest time of the opening round on Friday night. His time tied for 12th quickest in a year where the track record has been broken twice, and it came on his six-bend debut! A Cat One finalist over four bends, he quickly suggested that he might be capable of even more over six. 

One of the best stories this autumn has been the return to action of Droopys Plunge. The Patrick Janssens team have done a great job brining him back to full fitness and he is roaring around Towcester at present. While his win is only good for joint 24th best of the year, the Derby makes up the vast majority of the times ahead of him, with 28.53 still ranking as a stunning run.

The third quickest time of the year over Newcastle's 640m distance was clocked by Zenith Pasha on Thursday night. With the Winter Festival at Shelbourne on his agenda at the end of November, he added to his outstanding runs in the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic and Premier Greyhound Racing St Leger. He was prohibitive odds to do so but they are justified for one of his class. 

Ballymac Buddy is a litter brother to Woltemade and made it a pair for the litter on the list this week with a smart Sunderland success that saw him lower the colours of Bockos Buster. It puts him in the number eight slot for the year over 450m, with the Classic starting in three and a half weeks time. 

Two runs, two wins so far for Sperrin Mist who took a chunk of time off her already impressive Hove debut from last week. She stoped the clock at 29.10 which given 28.89 is the fastest of the year so far, set by Annadown Warrior, is a pretty impressive standard to be hitting in just race start number two. She has the potential to turn into a superstar bitch.

There were plenty of smart time at Doncaster on Saturday night with Headford Asher just coming out on top for the POW with his 483m effort. He missed an entire year from July 2025 to July 2026 but has produced a couple of very smart runs since joining Phil Milner, including this one to put his name into the top 20 for the second time at the track. 

Monmore saw smart winners over three different distances with Takemawaytony just getting the nod for his sprinting success. He showed all sorts of pace over 480m at the track, so while it is not a surprise that he has found sprinting to be to his liking, the way that he has taken off has been. He is a perfect 4/4 with a pair of wins in D1 and at open class level. 

The love affair that The Other Kodi has with his home track of Nottingham has been well documented, keeping his unbeaten record in place last week, something that he added to yesterday as well! His early pace is a potent weapon, and he just continues to go about his business for Barry Denby in a hugely professional manner. 

At Valley there could easily have been a lull of a week after the final of the Star Sports Welsh Derby but Hoholetsgo ensured that was not the case with a sprint win that equalled the best time of the year so far. She stopped the clock just 10 spots shy of the track record on her first try over that trip.

Slick Senator was a tricky-looking type for Patrick Janssens. He picked up a sprint open win but looked a little between distances. Step forward Craig Morris and a hugely impressive A1 win on debut at Yarmouth. If Morris has found the key, he has an unexposed type to go to war with, and perhaps Yarmouth was the answer that was required all along. 

There were a couple of quick sprint runs at Kinsley last week. Inky Glow was the quickest of the winners by a single spot, clocking 15.99, but the D2 that she won was not a strong as the D1 which saw Roanna Nera produce her run that won her POW. She was runner-up in top grade last week to Norristown Hydro who won POW, so is a deserved winner. 

We end with Harlow and a 415m success from Miss Margaret. She has now won five of her last six graded starts at the track, as well as making a trip to Valley where she finished second in an open. Her win last week was arguably the best run that she has produced so far in her career.