British Performance of the Week - 18 August 2026

Picture from Monmore Stadium X feed

Headford Dane takes top spot this week

The top action last week came from Monmore where Headford Dane took the top honours after his semi-final win in the Ladbrokes Gold Cup. He is the defending champion and looks to be coming back up to the boil in his bid to win this in back-to-back years. His time was the third quickest of the year so far, behind a pair of wins from Underground Gold in the Puppy Derby.

A Category One finalist in the recent Time Northern Flat, Deerjet Rocket returned to winning form back on his home track of Doncaster for trainer Jimmy Gaskin. He is now in the top 10 times of the year over 450m as well as in the top five over 483m, looking better than ever as he passed 50 career starts recently. 

There was a new fastest of the year over six bends at Star Pelaw courtesy of Witton Gucci. She was already the holder of that particular title, taking another 14 spots off. She made it into the final of the Arena Racing Company Angel of the North despite that trip being on the short side for her and might take a bit of stopping over this track and trip in the coming weeks. 

Epic Command seems to be perfectly matched with the shorter four-bend distance at Sheffield, winning for the second time over the 480m trip. He has plenty of natural speed once his paws hit the sand, and after only 14 career races, there should be better to come from him down the line.

At Sunderland it was Ballymac Buddy who produced the top run of the week. He burst onto the scene right at the tail end of 2025 with impressive wins at both Sheffield and Newcastle. A finalist in the Arc Northern Puppy Derby back in February, he has been a little in and out since but when he is on the top of his game, he is a very smart performer. 

The best sprint time of the year so far at Yarmouth belongs to Rockmount Kellie back in early-May. She was just three spots shy of that mark last week, seeing her in joint second fastest as well now. This was the first time that she has dropped into graded company since April, and the confidence from this can see her take it back to open racing again.

There were a few opens on Thursday night at Newcastle but none of them went as quick as Slingshot Blue did in winning his A1 contest. It was his third win from his last four starts, which includes another one at this level as well as an open class contest. 

When it comes to consistent veterans at present, Brentfordpenguin has to be one of the names to throw into the ring. Matt Dartnall's railer has won five of his last six, his only defeat coming when he was uncharacteristically slow away from the traps. Aside from that, he has pinged and gone in smart fashion.

The final set of trial stakes for the Arena Racing Company Puppy Classic were at Nottingham last Monday where Newinn Jolly produced the best of the times. Sadly, he was not able to back up that effort in the opening round yesterday, but he remains a nice recruit for his connections. 

One of the widest margin winners of the week was Foxwood Christy in his A1 at Central Park. He was undoubtedly helped in terms of the lengths back to his rivals with trouble at the opening bend, but he had shown the pace to get himself around in front to have the race won.

There have been plenty of recent wins from Clongeel Bono, five of his last seven after adding another open race success at the Valley on Friday. He put himself into the top 15 times of the year over 460m for the fourth time with this performance.

Millbank Buster is one of two on the list this week who are still pups, a relatively light week for that age group. There was no open race action at Hove, so it was his D1 success that set the standard at the south coast venue. It was his second win at this level to go with an open race success.

Romford were another track that had no open racing last week, with the top run coming from Geneva Betsy in a very decent time of 35.25 for her S1 victory. The track was on the quick side, but despite that, it was still a very smart run having taken up the running at the third bend. 

At Dunstall Park Hows That came out on top in an A2 contest after he pinged the lids. It was his 14th start at the track and the fastest sectional that he has produced in a race. His record in this grade now stands at 4/8, so he is well worth keeping on side when he is at this level next. 

There was a smart sub 15-second run at Harlow from Doreens Ash, just the third time that the barrier has been broken this year. Two of those have been by this performer now, with Moaning Hearns joining Doreens Ash with a 14.97 at the top of the leaderboard. 

Kinsley rounds us out where a win from Coonough Scobie took the top slot last week. It was a D2 contest but it clearly gave him plenty of confidence as he followed up with an open race win at Doncaster on Saturday night.