Rachel Holland's Derby blog - 1 May 2025

Rachel Holland's Derby blog

It’s been another important week of races and trials in the build-up to the 2025 English Greyhound Derby, with final preparations completed and plans now confirmed for our full team making the journey. 

Bombay Pat was a real highlight - we were absolutely delighted with how he ran. He posted a very good time on the day and seems to be handling Towcester extremely well. That was his first run back since the Winter Racing Festival, and it couldn’t have gone much better. He’s now officially entered for the Derby. 

There was no luck for Faypoint Susie this time - she charged the traps and showed good early pace but ran into plenty of trouble in running. She remains part of our Derby squad and will be making the trip to England. Unfortunately, Ardera Sam was a bit disappointing again. He just hasn’t taken to Towcester and with that in mind, he won’t be travelling for the Derby and hasn’t been entered. 

We also had two dogs on the trial sheet on Sunday. Riverside Pingu was back on the track after two months off with a bad injury. It was his first four-bend trial back and we were very pleased with how he went. He’s come out of it well and he’s been entered for the Derby. 

Crokers Planet is a new arrival to the kennel and still a bit of an unknown for us, but he’s been running very well in England and pleased us in his first look at the track. He’s settled in nicely and will also take his place in the Derby lineup. His owner is excited to have a runner in the big one and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do. 

Alongside those four, the rest of the Derby team includes Bockos Diamond, Cheap Sandwiches, Swords Don, Faypoint Harvey and Val Tashadelek - all of whom have come out of their recent races in great order and are working well up the gallop at home. That brings our full team to nine dogs heading to Towcester. 

Our plans are to travel overnight on Tuesday evening, arriving at Jamie Kingsley’s kennels on Wednesday. His facilities are excellent and depending on the draw, racing could begin as early as Thursday, with additional nights on Friday and Saturday. The three-night first round and two-night second round format means staying over has become essential and having a UK base makes things far easier for the dogs and for us. We’ve already spent a couple of recent Saturdays there and the dogs have settled in really well. A big thank you to Jamie, Charlie and the whole team for being so welcoming and accommodating - it’s a huge help and much appreciated. 

We’re now just waiting for the draw, continuing final preparations with the dogs and looking forward to getting things underway. The Derby draw takes place at 7pm on Friday, and we’ll be back with a full overview of the team and their opening round assignments in next week’s blog.