Christmas comes early for David Mullins at Sunderland

David Mullins takes the Classic with Santas Amigo

The final of the Premier Greyhound Racing Classic had looked open on paper prior to the race, but on the track it was a wide-margin success for Santas Amigo. The David Mullins-trained son of Ballymac Best paced up better than his rivals to the opening turn, and the result never looked in doubt from there. 

He had been a little unlucky in his semi-final of the Arena Racing Company Puppy Trophy on his last visit to the track in June, but he made no mistake when it mattered last night. A finalist in the JR Racing Juvenile Classic at Towcester in July, he has stamped himself as a genuine top table performer despite his career only covering 19 starts to this point. Mullins would double up in the final race with Zenith Impact.

Bockos Buster gave game chase for Kevin Boon but he was never able to make up the gap that had been opened up at the first bend. The first to show from the lids was Whitehills Titan for Ryan Buckton and although he succumbed to the brute pace of the favourite, he kept plugging away for fourth with Carl Jackson's Droopys Sort grabbing third late on. Coolavanny Mercy finished fifth for Angela Harrison and Unanimous Leon was sixth for Tom Heilbron.

The Arena Racing Company Shootout was the other final on the card, with Heilbron's Bower Sheeran producing a fourth straight win. This was his first one that was not when clad in red, so he has shown a little more adaptability which can only be a good thing for him in the future. His 27.07 was only 15 spots behind Santas Amigo. Heilbron also won the marathon on the card with Glengar Lisa.

Brian Fairbairn picked up a double as well, though only a hair over 10/11 for the pair as both Slingshot Poppy and Clona Ice won by a combined 10 and a quarter lengths. The former can be counted unlucky not to have lined up in the final of the Classic and her 26.56 was the standout run on the clock. The latter sported red for the first time in his life, getting up late on in a 640m contest.

Salsa Dynamite timed his challenge to perfection for Michael Hurst to land a winner of one. Sunnyside Cairo opened the night with a winner for Ted Soppitt with the other two races producing shock results with Dean Blackbird's Tullymurry Shine winning the sprint at 16/1 and Jill Suthurst's Witton Versace landing a 450m race at 11/1.

The one blot on an otherwise excellent night came in the sprint when a trap malfunction led to a nasty looking incident. The track issued a statement saying "all greyhounds were immediately checked over by our veterinary team, and we can report that no injuries have been sustained."  Thankfully it was no worse than that despite the optics.

Young doubles up at Romford

Yahoo Mareike saw her winning run of three come to a halt last Friday night but she was straight back to winning ways for Paul Young, producing the quickest 400m time of the night, 23.85. She had to do so from a wider than ideal trap in four but was helped by a swift 3.72 split to land the 11th open of her career.

Young's other winner came in the marathon contest courtesy of Bubbly Babs. It was her first win in six starts over 750m but she broke her duck over the trip in style with the second fastest time of the year over the distance.

The 225m trip has seen some particularly decent times so far this year, Pavilion Team landing last night's sprint contest for Mark Wallis. A finalist in the Coral Golden Sprint back in March, it was his first time over the two-bend trip at the London Road venue.

Bacon Frazzles and Aayamza Legend both ducked under 35.10 for their respective 575m wins for Paul Burr and John Mullins. The former beat a decent field, picking up Fabulous Sonique late in the day, the latter getting to the front earlier on in the piece before clearing away by seven and three-quarter lengths. Nathan Hunt took the other 575m contest with Senahel Sydney.

Gemma Evans got on the scoresheet with Romantic Romeo, Maxine Locke scored with Droopys Rarity and Laughil Dan won for Dave Lee, all over 400m.

Butlers Lane extends unbeaten Dunstall sequence

The feature race on Dunstall Park's Friday night card was a bitches final that saw the return matchup of Premier Greyhound Racing Oaks winner Butlers Lane and runner-up Kilwest Diva.

Barry Denby's star produced an uncharacteristically slow exit to allow Kim Billingham-Hine's railer to gain the early lead. Butlers Lane got herself to the front halfway down the back but she had to dig deep to see off her old foe by half a length at the line.

Billingham-Hine had the quickest of the winners over 480m on the card with Droopys Expected. His only prior win open race win came over six bends at Monmore, a regular winner in top grade at that track.

There was a double on the night for Dalton Smith courtesy of Signet Maisie in a sprint contest and Bombay Tilda in a stayers. Maisie has won three of her last four after being slow to get off the mark for Smith, while Tilda got off the mark at the first time of asking over six bends.

Nicholas Ralph Jnr picked up the other open race winner on the card with Jab And Run. A multiple A1 winner at both Perry Barr and Dunstall Park, he was picking up his first win in open race company.