Plunge takes the Gold Collar with all-the-way success

Picture from Hove Stadium X feed

Derby champion is back at the top

Last Sunday's Hove visit had ended poorly for the Patrick Janssens team with Droopys Erlybird slipping his collar at Clacket Lane services. Thankfully he was found and is back at home while his kennelmate Droopys Plunge gained a gold collar with his victory at the south coast venue yesterday afternoon.

It is not often that the 2025 Star Sports Derby winner pings the lids but he has a real love of sporting the red jacket, and once he was out and in control on the inside, it would have taken a run of epic proportions for anything to pick him up again. The way that he has been coaxed back to this level of form at the age of four by the whole Janssens team cannot be underestimated, a truly outstanding training performance for the kennel who had the third home as well in Romeo Tomcat.

Splitting the Janssens pair was Forgottotellya for Mark Wallis. He has found a seam of consistency of late that was missing earlier in his career and he has shown that he is more than capable of being the competition dog that connections will have hoped he would be because of it. 

Bikini Bullet was sent off as the favourite but having been so quickly into stride in both her heat and semi-final, she picked a bad time to miss it. She came home in fourth for Belinda Green with Ricky Holloway's Droopys Graph and Michelle Brown's Lincoln Impact whipping them in.  

The card also saw the delayed semis of the George Curtis & Ballyregan Bob Memorial where Vhagar set about her work with a very slick exit from the traps for Wallis. Not only was it a sixth win in a row for her, it took her career to 34/53, a ridiculous strike rate of 64%. She has been a superstar for connections and will look for her fourth Cat One triumph next Saturday night. She was chased home by Green's Broncos Bullet.

Winning has become a real habit for Candolim Typhoon as well who notched his seventh straight success for Derek Knight. He is going to have the toughest task of his career next week but the form that he is in currently, it would be foolish to think that he can't get involved. Brown added another Cat One finalist to her spectacular 2026 with Drombeg Flash just half a length adrift of him.

A huge amount of credit has to go to the Jimmy Fenwick team, especially Hannah, who have brought Zenith Boom all the way down form the north east for this competition, rewarded with a semi-final winner and a spot in the decider. He is the youngest of the finalists and has the fewest miles on the clock. Malcolm Bosh booked his place in another final for Angie Kibble, going close in the Premier Greyhound Racing St Leger final in September. 

There was another win for Janssens on the undercard with Romeo Sicario. The pup was a 500m open winner at Towcester with Laurence Tuffin before heading to Janssens, taking this win on his third start for the new handler. 

The main event went to the 2025 Derby winner but there was also a 2025 Irish Derby finalist on the card in Jason Heath's Droopys Deploy who picked up a win over 515m. Part of a three way go into the opening bend, he had to wait until pouncing late to get his head in front in the closing stages.  

There was another winner for Heath on the card with Burrows Aries scoring in what looked a strong heat for the Gold Collar Consolation race. He was helped by a vacant box outside of him, giving him room to move into on the run to the opening bend before cutting back across to hold off the railers, 

The Dave Lee kennel are enjoying an excellent year on the open race scene with Brunch Pal one of the kennel stars. He took the final of the dual distance competition, just getting the front at the opening bend, using the draw in red to his advantage. He was open race winner number 65 on the year for Lee at a superb 28% clip.

Paul Young got on the board with Bowmers Wildcat who had things go beautifully for him. He has bundles of early pace and with a vacant trap inside of him, there was no challenge for him heading into the opening bend, able to get himself away and gone, coming home more than five lengths to the good. 

There was a winner for Jamie Kingsley as Croydon Treaty stayed on well to land the final race of the afternoon. He was getting off the mark at the fourth time of asking for Kingsley, looking every inch a stayer in the making which as a half-brother to Mongys Wild, Garfiney Blaze, Zenith Boom et al, he should be!

A veterans contest saw a bit of a surprise winner as Holloway's Savanabetgoodwin took home the prize. He is not a dog who has had a decent strike rate though his career but he has found the winning thread of late, taking a couple of hurdles contests at Star Pelaw as well.

Fenwick takes three at Sheffield

There was another excellent afternoon for the Jimmy Fenwick team at Sheffield, a treble led by Brunnsum Bubble. His last five wins have all come at Owlerton, looking just as effective over four bends as he is over six, scoring over the shorter distance yesterday. A finalist in the Time 3 Steps to Victory, he has wins over all three of those trips in those five successes. 

Quick progression has been the story of Howay Miley so far, picking up his fourth win on just his ninth start. He showed the best pace to the bend to go around in front to add to his A7, A4 and A2 wins at Newcastle, taking some big jumps forward. Very closely related to Wicky Ned, it will be interesting to see just how high he can rank.

Fenwick's treble had been kicked off in the opening contest by Blastoff Tiger. His only prior start for the kennel was a Nottingham open at the end of September, showing the best pace to the turn on the wide outside here to get off the mark at the second time of asking. 

The quickest Sheffield sprinter was also in action on the card in the shape of Rose Draper's Swift Hostile. He was just 11 spots off his own track record here, quickly into stride, he despatched his opponents with brutal simplicity from the front to run out a six and a half length winner.  

Moss King really has the bit between his teeth of late, winning his fifth straight start for Chris Fereday. An open success at Doncaster as well as a couple here have followed on from a pair of top grade victories at Monmore, all of them showing off some very smart early pace and beating some decent types again.

Speaking of decent types, a 480m contest saw the first run for Magical Keith since the final of the BetGoodwin Steel City Cup three weeks ago. The shorter four-bend trip probably suits him better than the 500m does despite having made a Cat One final over the longer distance. He showed his trademark speed to the bend to have this won early on.

Over six bends there was a win for Diane Henry's Savana Pinatubo who ran out a wide-margin scorer. This was his 10th run over this far with just a handicap success to show for it, despite a string of solid efforts, so he certainly was not winning out of turn, getting himself in a prominent position much earlier than is normally the case with him. 

A puppy contest went to Tromora Sand for Karl Parsonage, looking to appreciate the return to his home track after four runs at Doncaster. He was far from disgraced at the other Yorkshire venue, finishing third in a Doncaster Puppy Derby semi-final, but he came away better here to get himself back in the win column.

The biggest-priced winner on the afternoon was Westway Sailor for Joy Andrews. He is four and a half now but is clearly still more than capable of performing to a level like this. It was win number 35 in his career, though just his second in an open.

Darren Fretwell got on the board early on the afternoon with Superb Morning who was notching up a hat-trick of successes. This was a 480m final after a smart all-the-way win in the heats last week, he had to work a little harder to come from off the pace but he got his head in front where it mattered.  

There was a sprint win for Lisa Stephenson and Drumdoit Onana who ended a losing run of 10. He had been running well despite those defeats which came hot on the heels of rattling off four wins in a row. Now that he has his head back in front, he may be capable of running up a sequence again with his confidence boosted. 

Another sprint went to Quality Style to land a victory for Levi Prescott Jackson. He got to the front early but had just a short head to spare over the runner-up when the line came. He was in D3 on August 9, winning that day to start a run of seven wins in 11 starts.  

Towcester treble for Hutton

Even with only five open races at Towcester on Sunday afternoon, there was still plenty for Kevin Hutton to pick up a treble. Jazzy Duke had ended a nasty bout of seconditis last week, quickly adding another success with a quick break putting him out in front at an early stage. 

Jazzy Dancer has been in flying form for Hutton in recent weeks, producing another strong finishing effort to make it four wins on the bounce. She has now been successful in six of her seven visits to this track with Alright Bullet the only dog to beat her over the line, that coming on her Towcester debut back in May.

There was also a win for Jazzy Design to give both Hutton and the 'Jazzy' prefix a treble on the afternoon. This time it was the 460m distance that was in use, with the first three home separated by just a length and the winner getting on top late in the day. It was his first race action since the middle of July, so he is entitled to come on for that,

Back over 500m there was a first open race success for Unlikely Nando at the sixth time of asking. He had shown more than enough to think that this first success was inevitable, but slow exits were giving him an uphill task week after week. He was not away from the lids all that quickly here but he managed to get himself into a position to run down the leader in the closing strides.  

Linda Pruhs had the other open race winner on the card with Common Moon. She took things on from the front early on as she stepped back up to four bends for the first time since July. She had D2 and D1 wins in the meantime before this 460m assignment, a trip that looked to suit her well. 

A Star Pelaw pair for Foot

Mary Gee was a very quick winner around Star Pelaw last week, yet she was still not favourite yesterday where she gave another masterclass in front running. She boasts some superb pace on the long run to the opening bend, picking up a sixth win from her last seven starts, and looking a very tough bitch to knock off the bunny when she is on it for Glenn Foot. 

Dreamin Porscha had kicked off a double for Foot in the prior contest, clocking a very solid 14.55 for the two-bend distance. It was a little bit of a messy contest throughout but she managed to squeeze herself out and away on the rails to take up the lead at the opening bend.

There was a stronger running performance from the back from Cheryl Ingham's Friendcalledfire who took a four-bend maiden contest. She is only a March 25 pup, making her race debut here and could be one to follow on this effort with a slightly stiffer test at four bends looking more her requirement than this speedier track.

Two other sprints made up the remainder of the open races with Revilo Lisa the quicker of the two winners. She was quickest away from the red jacket to take control in the early strides. That was enough to keep digging in off the front to repel any dangers from being. 

Westfield Basil was the other sprint winner, pacing up well to the bend in a maiden for Jason Smith. He has shown pace in his races to this point but has been rather green at times. This was a much more professional performance from him, stretching well clear up the home straight. 

Morgan takes all three at Valley

Tony Morgan took all three of the open race winners at Valley with Taylors Magic scoring over four bends. He was getting his first win in 11 starts for the kennel, showing decent pace down the back to pick up the lead going into the third bend. 

There were also two sprints on the card with the quicker won by Comer Sue. She took a little while to get herself on top but once she did, she was able to pull well clear of her rivals. 

Kippagh Epic took the other sprint, able to get to the front much earlier than her kennelmate did, backing up a win in a D4 last time out. She is a veteran now but is in good winning form.