Lennies Desire breaks the Towcester track record in the Derby Plate heats
A new Towcester track record on the undercard plus a round up of the rest of the Saturday night open action.
28.39 is the new Towcester track record
It was an outstanding Saturday night for Team Hennessy at Towcester. Dynamic Force set the fastest winning time in the Star Sports & TRC English Greyhound Derby quarter-finals and Lennies Desire set a new clock for the 500m distance in his heat of the PricedUp Derby Plate.
A BetGoodwin and JR Racing Maiden Derby finalist, he clocked a 28.58 win in the opening round of the Derby before getting it all wrong in round two. There will be a short enough price for him about winning the 2026 Derby once this years competition is over. While he needs to improve on his consistency, nobody can deny the engine is there for him to land a big one.
The other three heats of the Derby Plate were all won by red-jacketed runners. Hopes Ompaloompa kicked them off for Esther Driver, another kennel who had a great night. He tracked Salacres Senan around early on before staying on strongest to the line.
Graham Holland's Val Tashadelek was the second quickest of the heats, clocking 28.69 in his heat while the other heat went to Scooby The Boss in 28.99 for Nathan Hunt.
The other competition to start last night was the Greyhound Trader Stakes for dogs who have been purchased through that company whether online, in a track sale or privately. Gary The Arb is the defending champion though he had to give second best in his heat to Chris Fereday's Ballymac Odin who at 22/1 was the biggest priced winner on the evening.
Quickest of the heats was Zenith Quincy for Richard Rees. His 4.13 split was the slowest of the winners sectionals but he paced up well enough to turn in front. Maxine Locke took the opening race on the card with Racenight Mikey while Craig Morris rounded out the winners in this competition with Flashing Fender.
Bono gives Deakin a beautiful day
There were four open races at Central Park where King Bono was the pick of the winners with his 16.22 sprint success. The lightbulb appears to have come on in his head in recent times, winning three of his last five starts. It was his debut for Simon Deakin after leaving Dan Brabon, clocking the six fastest time of 2025.
Brabon got on the board himself with Bonnie Wee Rosie at 8/1 with Dave Puddy getting on the board with Glenhead Tom at 5/1. Both races were messy affairs with the odds on favourites finding trouble. The other open race winner on the card was Wonderful Abi for Paul Donovan who scored over six bends.
Three winners for Kevin Hutton at Oxford
Four opens were also on the slate at Oxford where Kevin Hutton won three. He could not have failed to win the standard final given that all of the six runners belonged to the kennel! It was Start The Engine who was the one to come out on top, clocking 26.41 to continue the unbeaten start to his career.
Witton Mack and Antigua Kestrel were on the board earlier in the night to set up the short-price treble with Richard Yeates the only trainer to break the Hutton stranglehold with Crossfield Niall.
Track flying at Doncaster on Saturday
Another Saturday night at Doncaster and another impressive winner for David Fradgley as Tiermana Blaze clocked 29.33. Only Keefill Goose has gone quicker so far this year with a 29.19. The other open on the card went to Kirsty Grayson's Look Smart who clocked the fastest 450m time of the year so far on a track that was only rated +10.
Upcoming Opens
Monday: Nottingham
Tuesday:Swindon
Friday: Romford
Saturday: Towcester
