Mark Wallis racks up Performance of the Week winners

Picture from Mark Wallis's X feed

British Performance of the Week 

It was a tight run thing at Hove this week with both Mongys Wild and Proper Heiress impressive winners of their respective Category One semi-finals. For the latter, he has gone quicker on four occasions this year over 515m while for Mongys Wild, he was just three spots off his quickest of the year over the 740m distance. They are 1/6 and 1/4 respectively for their finals this weekend!

At Nottingham, it was Ballinakill Liam who put himself into the position of joint favourite for the Arena Racing Company National Sprint with a fluent trial stakes win. Although he was still running well enough, he had picked up just a single win in 13 starts before embarking on his current winning streak of four. Before those 13 starts he had won six on the bounce. When he's hot, he's hot!

It was another for the Wallis kennel at Romford as Fabulous Sonique picked up another 575m win from the front. She has made the London Road venue her personal playground throughout her career, and although she hit veteran status back in July, there is little sign of her starting to show her age, winning five of her last six.

The Wallis domination came to an end at Oxford as Eagles Respect produced the pick of the bet365 Challenge Cup semi-final wins, nudging Vhagar off the top spot where she had sat for three consecutive weeks. Angie Kibble's dog has won four of his five starts over track and trip now but it is Vhagar who is the market leader for the final next Sunday.

Keefill Goose was fastest in the opening round of the BGBF British Bred Derby at Towcester on Sunday afternoon. It was his 19th career start at the Northamptonshire venue, seven of those coming in Category One competitions and another seven in Category Two races. It was win number 20 overall on career start 60.

One at the other end of his career is The Other Chief who took off at Central Park on Saturday night. He had shown plenty of ability prior to breaking his duck but even his most ardent of fans will have done a double take at the 28.60 clocking, just 15 spots off the track record set by his kennelmate in the final of the 2024 Kent Derby.

Although there were a number of quicker winners at Newcastle on Thursday, it is Woltemade who wins the award after a very taking debut. Very closely related to the likes of multiple top table finalist Jaytee Craze, his 28.58 off a 4.56 split was one of the most complete performances anyone could hope to see from a pup.

Also in the north-east, there was another slick win at Star Pelaw for Unanimous Leon. He already boasts the quickest 435m time of the year at the track, and he appreciated the return to an easier level off the back of a trip to the final of the Premier Greyhound Racing Classic at Sunderland. 

Speaking of Sunderland, it was Matts Bomber who got the nod for the award there. He made the final of the Arena Racing Company Shootout and having returned to graded company, he made no mistake in adding a third win from his last four starts.

The step up to six bends has done the world of good for Droopys Extragud. Always a smart performer over four bends, where he was just a hair below the very best, his confidence appears to be sky high now that he is able to get on the bunny much earlier. It will be interesting to see how he fares when he has to take on the top stayers, presumedly at Central Park for the Cesarewitch which kicks off the new Category One calendar year once more in 2026. 

It was a tight call between winners over three different distances at Sheffield but in the end it was Crokers Harry who got the vote after his sprint win on Sunday. He has won six of his last 10 at Owlerton, his most recent pair of defeats coming at the paws of Not So Slow and Rental Crisis, and there is no disgrace in that.

Tiermana Blaze was given the nod at Doncaster on just his second start back from almost six months off. On a track that was rated -20, it was arguably the top performance of his career to this point, picking up his fifth open race win this year in the process. 

If there is going to be a handicap winner that lands the award, the chances are that it is going to come from Kinsley. That was the case once more where Lightfoot Elle was a very quick winner from scratch last week, and although the track was running quick, stopping the clock in 27.74 takes some doing.

There was a single open at Monmore last week, a 630m contest won by Longacres Daddy on Saturday night. It is his kennelmate Longacres Gordon who gains the day, however, as he picked up his fourth D1 win from his last six starts. His 15.35 is the best time that he has produced, the veteran has tapped into a rich vein of form for Pat Doocey.

Suffolk Downs has been a very happy hunting ground for Savana Kilauea since the Mildenhall circuit reopened. The youngster has now won five of his last six starts, with this his first one since leaving puppy stats behind him. He has plenty of gears for a dog whose bottom line screams stamina.

One of the two youngest winners this week is Sandra Clayton's Heartandahalf at Yarmouth. He trod the same path as Outdoor Cracker who won last week. There was an A1 win on the Monday card, followed by an even quicker A1 win at the weekend. Saturday's success is the 12th quickest time of the year at the track, the only '24 whelp to have his name in the top 50. 

Ballymac Seomra is a tough and consistent type at Swindon, coming from off the pace to land an A1 last Tuesday. She is capable of trapping much better than she did on that occasion but she was still able to get the job done. A litter sister to East Anglian Derby runner-up Burrows Charm, she can burn the candle at both ends of the race.

At Harlow, there was a solid performance from Royston Rocket. The lack of opens at the venue has led to the times dropping away from where they were a couple of years ago but his 26.42 win reads well in the context of 2025 at the Essex venue.

Optic Bucks is the last on the list, getting his hat-trick up in A2 grade. His other two wins came in 28.20 and 28.60, splitting them straight down the middle with a 28.40 success. He boasts an excellent career record with 22 wins and 20 runner-up efforts from his 72 starts.