BRITISH PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK 17 FEBRUARY 2025

Keefill Goose is the Doncaster selection

The easiest selection of the week is Proper Heiress in the Winter Derby at Monmore. Any hound that breaks 28.00 for the standard is worthy of note; only six achieved it last year and Heiress was the second in 2025. Next Saturday will be the Kilkenny bred’s 15th UK outing. His first 14 have seen him win eight times and reach three Category One finals.

But then picking the Oxford selection took even less time than he did to earn it. A new sprint record for Union Rebel whose 14.67 on .10. slow going, was 11 spots quicker than the previous best with one of the joint record holders, My Lennie beaten almost five lengths. Kevin Hutton’s British bred black is a former record holder for the four bend course with a 26.44 run. A mention too for Alright Gordy who was washed off and back in his kennel before the others crossed the winning line in an 847m open. Official winning distance, 18 lengths.

With the Greyhound Racing UK Northamptonshire Sprint semi finals staged yesterday, it was always likely that the Towcester selection would come from a 270m runner. However, the quickest run of the day didn’t come from one of the qualifiers. It turned out to be the 15.56 run from Patrick Janssens’ Romeo Kingpin in a new FOY (TR 15.35).

Savva Roberts’ Stonepark Hoffa was surprisingly eliminated from the opening round of the Northampton Sprint but showed there wasn’t a lot wrong with his fitness and conditioning with a 15.56 run for the Sunderland sprint on Friday night. The fastest time recorded last year was Highview Sean’s 15.55. (The track record is held by the great Walshes Hill at 15.30).

Any youngster that breaks 28.20 at Newcastle is guaranteed to attract plenty of attention and Droopys Deploy is no exception having cleared it by a significant ten spots. By means of comparison, Wicky Ned’s fastest time as a pup was 28.55 and his fastest as an adult, in the final of the Northern Flat, was 28.05.

Ballymac Lineout was our Newcastle selection in consecutive weeks in January when he twice broke the 640m track record. On Sunday afternoon he lined up as the 2/7f for a Sheffield 660m open and won as his price suggested he might. By way of comparison though, his 39.39 was 75 spots short of the quickest run for course and distance last year.

There were fastest times of the year over three different distances at Hove on Thursday: 285m-16.30 Forever Billy, 515m-30.01 Bluejig Baron and 695m–41.61 Swift Jarvis. But we are going for the veteran Romeo Command with a 29.18 run, which was seven spots off the quickest 500m time. That was career win 39 from 59 races, all opens (66%).

An impressive run from Quill Quids was the standout of the Monday night card at Nottingham. Esther Driver’s blue pup won for the first time in four outings in the FON, 29.94 (+30). There was also another win for the similarly aged Mull Of Kintyre in 30.06 in A2.

Swindon’s Tuesday night open race card saw a six bend stayers race that was worthy of at least a Cat Two final. The prolific Alright Gordy (4/5f) was the market leader with plenty of interest in the locals Ballymacs Mags (11/4) and Ballymac Loca (9/2). But all were put in their place by Millridge Tanic with a 41.45 run. Only Ballymac Madgie (41.39) has gone quicker this year.

It was a similar story at Romford in the last race on the Friday card where there was little between the top three in the market. Scammer (1/1f), led home Fabulous Sonique (5/1) and Droopys Deploy’s half sister Droopys Eustace (13/8) with the distances reflecting the SPs: ¾, 1¼. It was a fifth success in eight appearances for Mark Wallis’ 28.28 Drumbo winner.

But it happens in graded races too. The POW selection was always going to be about the fifth race at Perry Barr on Saturday night. Not only did it feature the defending POW Chakra (6/5f), but it also included the many times mentioned, Inca Gerry (11/4). However the honours would go to a hound with two 28.38 winning lines of form, Hurry Up Brendan. Also, given his 28.33 trial 11 days earlier, it was no surprise when John Lambe’s 9/4 chance popped up with a 28.39 (-10) run.

Borna Pam didn’t race last week. Had she done so, there must be a reasonable chance that she would have retained her place on the chart. The 29.38 winner on February 1 was back in action on Saturday night. Paul Donovan’s black never saw a rival when beating a decent A1 field in 29.11 (-20).

The quickest run of the week at Yarmouth was Swift Bankrupt’s 27.90 (N) on Monday. The best performance though was probably Kereight Fraud’s 28.27 (-20) run on Wednesday. Beaten by Trumpers Bobcat when chasing a four-timer last week, Erica Samuels’ black needed to dig deep before reversing form with Bobcat to get home by a head. A mention too for Capel Rose with a 55.88 marathon win on Saturday, a time that is impossible to accurately assess given the going allowance of -140.

Harlow was a struggle this week with only three hounds breaking 27.00 for the standard. They were: front Boo (26.99), Gothic Gwen (26.64) and Dower Rafa with a 26.62 (-20) A2 win.

Ex-26.21 Harlow winner Good Streak is approaching his best form once again at Valley. On Sunday he beat the cream of the local runners including defending POW Droopys Nijinsky and track record holder Tracker Man in a cracking middle distance open. His 28.32 run completed a hat-trick following 28.37 and 28.38 runs. His Welsh PB is 28.04.

There was better luck for Tracker Man’s litter brother On The Nose at Pelaw on Sunday night. Carl Jackson’s blue clocked the fastest sprint of the night, 14.56. That is only 11 spots slower than the year’s quickest to date.

Keefill Maverick was last week’s Doncaster selection with a 27.54 run for the 450 metres. That baton has been handed to litter brother Keefill Goose with a 27.45 run, which is also the quickest so far this year. But it was far from a straightforward choice. Agile Ange clocked 29.55 in a Sunday morning A1 which was the quickest 483m run of the year and her first race back after a four month lay-off.

There was less to shout about at Kinsley this week, at least in terms of times. The best race of the week was a Sunday evening A2 contest which featured last week’s top performer Ballymac Frisby. In a messy affair, he was beaten a neck and the same into third place by Crystal Turtle in what must be the slowest run ever to get the Kinsley selection, 28.54.