British Performance of the Week - 29 September 2026

Stewards Cup underway with a joint fastest POW

A fascinating start to the SIS/Star Sports Stewards Cup on Saturday night at Star Pelaw, with nothing to split heat winners Antigua Kestrel and Droopys Bookem on the clock. Add to that Witton Gucci just another two spots away, the competition has the potential to put on one of the finals of the year on October 10. Not bad for the first race of this stature to be run at the County Durham venue.

There was a new. track record in another Star Sports sponsored event, the Welsh Derby at Valley. Mike Burton has really found the right tune with Face The Storm of late and his semi-final win was absolutely exceptional. The first dog to dip under 28 seconds this year at the track, he did so by 35 spots in a flawless performance. Now he just had to repeat the dose in the final. 

A week after Woltemade set a new fastest of the year for the 480m at Dunstall Park, Graham Holland sent over Newinn Uganda to usurp the four-time Category One winner by a couple of spots. Runner-up in the Sporting Press A3 final at Shelbourne in August (a competition set to throw some good ones for 2027) she produced a remarkable run for a bitch who had never seen the track before! 

Saturday will see the start of the Premier Greyhound Racing Kent Derby at Central Park, and it was the 2025 runner-up Texas Jack who set the standard at the track last weekend. He is fresh for the time of year after a light campaign that has seen him make the original final of the Ladbrokes Winter Derby as well as the quarter-final stage of the classic itself.  

Sheffield on Sunday will have the heats of the BetGoodwin Steel City Cup, with Magical Keith showing up well once more at Owlerton at the weekend. The winner of two of his three starts at the track, he was not helped by the draw in the one defeat. An Irish Laurels semi-finalist last year, he has the back catalogue of form to be a serious contender.  

There is an exciting new recruit for the Mark Wallis team in Stitched Pockets who did plenty wrong at Towcester on Sunday but somehow still managed to clock a time sub 29 seconds. She finished her race off powerfully and is still totally unexposed. She could be a real star in the making. 

Hove saw the third quickest sprint time of the year set by Avarua Lake as well as the third quickest 500m time of the year, courtesy of Brunch Pal. It was the latter who just got the nod for the POW crown, something that he has become accustomed to in 2026, enjoying an exceptional season for Dave Lee.

It was nice to see a return to winning ways from Bombay Buck at Romford. The Coral Golden Sprint winner from earlier on in the year, he had only been successful in one of his last 12 starts. He produced one of his better exits on this occasion, a 3.65 allowing him to sneak around the inside of long-time rival Brindle Bully and take enough of a lead to hold off the strong runner. 

Although the Sunderland win of Hollyhill King on Friday night was a surprise for punters, there was no fluke in the result, taking the race by the scruff of the neck early on to come away to score in 27.02. There have been just 22 times this year that the 27-second barrier has been broken which shows the level of the run. 

In his last run before officially becoming a veteran, Roanna Mamba produced a very slick sprint win at Doncaster on Saturday, second only to Blow Out's success in July. This has been a very happy hunting ground for Michelle Brown's speedball, now boasting a perfect 9/9 record at the South Yorkshire venue. 

At Newcastle it was Romeo Liberty who produced the pick of this week's winners, seeing off the 2025 Northern Flat winner Naochra. He showed by far the best early pace to get the job done early on with what was the top performance of his career to this point. 

After the excitement at Yarmouth of the Click Competitions East Anglian Derby, it was a quieter week at the Norfolk venue. The quickest winner of the week was Ballinabola Iris on Sunday morning but the level of the field that she saw off in an A2 was not close. to the quality that Coolside King had beaten in his A1 win the night before in a time six spots slower. He was making just his third start for Craig Morris, connections having to be patient with him, but he is unbeaten in those runs and is clearly a smart sort.

There was no open racing at Monmore last week so the pick of the bunch was Bogger Rapid who landed a top grade sprint on Tuesday in a very smart time. He does not have many miles on the clock so far in his career, though suffered a fall later on in the week.

There was a flying sprint time from Nunos Nugget in a top grade contest at Nottingham on Monday, with just a single open race on the night. The track was marked very quick subsequently but the winner has some real flashes of excellence on his card, with this right up there with the best of them.

Another track which has been running ultra fast for a long time is Kinsley where Swift Ecology produced the pick of the runs last week on a +60 surface. Even with the going added, it was just one spot slower than the best calculated time that she has produced in her career.

One litter sibling handed over to another at Harlow as Moaning Mojito took on the mantle of performance of the week holder from Moaning Hearns. The Darren Whitton kennel has dominated this award through the first three-quarters of the year, and there is little doubt that they will finish things off strongly as well.