British Performance of the Week - 21 July 2025

British Performance of the Week

When a hound goes to traps at 1/2f, 8/13f, and 1/2f, clocks the fastest time on each occasion and wins each by an average of more than four lengths he can probably be considered in the ‘worthy winner’ category. Romeo Alliance was a worthy winner of the JR Racing Juvenile Classic at Towcester, notwithstanding that he was made to graft in the final after a slower-than-usual break. The Dave Firmager-bred son of Romeo Magico has now won seven of his 12 races and still has a couple of months to compete in age restricted company. 

We try to keep double selections to a minimum but sometimes it is impossible to separate a couple of outstanding candidates. On Saturday night, Proper Heiress recorded the fastest ‘515’ of the year (29.69) in Hove's Coral Sussex Cup first round while kennelmate Garfiney Blaze set a new FOY (41.45) for the Premier Greyhound Racing Regency course. The pair already hold similar credits at Central Park over the respective 491m and 664m trips with Heiress also quickest over the Monmore 480. Blaze set the fastest Hove 695m time in 2024, 41.12. 

Head Count was in the Cesarewitch Final won by Garfiney Blaze at Central Park back in January. Barry O’Sullivan’s dual distance fawn was the star of the Saturday night card at the same track when she came from last to first to land a 491m open in the fastest time of the week, 29.25 (-30). She has four wins and a second in her last five races, split between the two distances. 

Central Park sprint record holder Rioja Oisin won on his racing debut for Kevin Hutton clocking 26.61 for Oxford’s 450 metres . He was just 21 months old. On Saturday night, he was the quickest of the Pall Mall semi-final winners with a 26.43 (-10). There could be more to come from the Scurry and Silver Salver winner though, bearing in mind his maiden sectional was nine spots quicker than his most recent effort.  

Hardwick Mighty, who has won two of his six A1 races at the track was the fastest open winner at Newcastle on Thursday in the semi finals of the Time Northern Flat. Steve Caile’s black (6/1) set a new PB of 28.36 after another bad set of results for punters. All six finalists are locally trained with the three non-Heilbron runners all having graded form at the track. But it is far from a graded sweepstake. The Heilbron hounds include Droopys Bookem who failed by a place to reach the English Derby Final and Unanimous Leon who will be contesting his fourth Cat 1 decider.  

Meanwhile trainer Ted Soppitt dominated proceedings at Sunderland where Northern Puppy Derby finalist Sunnyside Jayden produced the week’s most impressive sprint run, 15.51. But we’ve gone for his kennelmate Sunnyside Gurkha who produced the week’s fastest ‘450’ on the same card, 26.85. The August pup was just 14 spots outside the quickest run of the year when clocking 26.85. 

The kennel was also among the winners at Monmore on Saturday with Sunnyside Broxi landing the fastest 630 open in 38.24 (N). Da Mighty Man won the quickest ‘480’ in 28.47 (N). Most impressive winner on the night though was Tullymurry Troy who destroyed an A1 field in the quickest time of the week, 28.27. It was a fourth win in his last six outings for Brian Thompson’s blue. 

Staying in the Midlands, it is two and a half years since Moyar Brow made his debut in D3 at Perry Barr. He soon reached the Puppy Classic final at Nottingham and has gone on to win a string of opens over four and six bends. On Saturday, Dave Welding’s black was back among the A1 runners and justified his 6/4 favouritism with a 28.47 (-10) run. That was race 60 and win no.18, giving him a 30% strike rate. 

Assuming he was named as a result of his rearing behaviour, Brindle Bully will only ever be the third string in a litter that includes Bockos Diamond and March On Freddie. But he remains a decent open racer in his own right. The Sunderland Classic finalist, who has put on two kilos since making his Romford debut some 14 months ago, still managed to propel his 38.3 kilo frame around the London Road circuit in a new PB of 23.64 for the 400 metres on Friday. 

The Nottingham racing office will presumably be considering staging more staying opens based on the heats of the Cat 3 ‘680’ competition staged last week. Quicker of the two was Jason Gray’s Loxleys Forest. The Three Steps semi-finalist led from trap to line before clocking 41.62, just seven spots outside Wolf Gold’s fastest run of the year. Sambar Dream was just three spots slower in the other heat. The final is tonight. A mention too for 29.82 (+50) A2 winner Phoenix Cowboy and sprint open winner Leelad (17.83). 

By their recent standards, Swindon’s most recent all-graded Tuesday card was a bit ‘so so’. The best race of the night was a ’28.20-28.30 A1’ contest for which Haverhill Lass (PB 28.23) went to traps as the 13/8f. On the night though, she failed to haul in Paul Foster’s Baggios Intent by a diminishing half a length in a time of 28.45 (-10). 

There was a ‘Moaning succession’ at Harlow last week where Moaning Hearns produced the fastest sprint run of the year to date, 14.87. That is seven wins in his last ten races for Darren Whitton’s British bred pup who succeeds his half brother Moaning Versace who has a 15.01 sprint on his card and is the fastest hound over the ‘415’ course this year, (26.17). 

No such fireworks at sister track Valley where Droopys Priority produced the week’s best performance. Mike Burton’s black, who won a heat of last year’s Derby and also has open race winning six bend form at Swindon and Valley, made his first appearance in five months in A2 company on Wednesday. He led throughout and clocked the best run of the week, 28.49. 

The heavy rains at the weekend turned the Doncaster times into a guessing contest. Easy Creed followed up his 27.56 (N) win a week ago today with a Saturday night open race win. Even though he produced a ‘111 1st’ performance and his sectionals were only one spot different, the open win was only calculated down to 27.85. The night’s 483m open was won by Foxwood Carter in a calculated 29.67. The selection though is Tuesday winner Kilduff Sasha, not just on times (29.53 calc) but because she was completing a four-timer. 

The easiest selection of the week must be Laugh Alot at Yarmouth. Two years after making her debut, the blue brindle is in the form of her life. Not only did Jane Craske’s defending POW of the week extend her winning sequence to five (traps three, four and five), she clocked the fastest ‘462’ of the year in doing so. She has now won 29 of her 90 races (32%). 

The Sheffield selection is a little more complicated. In terms of the ‘fastest times’, there were a couple of 28.91 runs, by A2 winners Tylough White and Ballymac Lawless. However, there were also a couple of 29.05 winners on Sunday, Tricky Wiggles and Acomb Felix. Both were in tougher A1 contests and in the case of the latter, not only did he defeat the defending POW Slippy Keith, it was the veteran’s 50th race win in career outing 110 which equates to an astonishing strike rate of over 45%. 

Meanwhile in South Yorkshire, Highview Amy looked set to be the Kinsley selection following her early week A3 win in 28.07. But on Sunday evening, Bev Heaton’s fawn reappeared in similar grade where the layers reckoned Lightfoot Elle (2/1f) had her measure. So it proved with the week’s only sub-28 run. 

The week ended with an Oxford v Central Park v Towcester “intertrack” – at Star Pelaw. Knockard Joe (11/10f), one of two for Central Park’s Paul Philpott led home three hounds trained by blokes called ‘Jason’ in a time of 36.29 for ‘ 590 metres’, which in the wide running winner’s case, was probably closer to 620 metres.