Swords lays down his Derby claims in style at Towcester

Swords Style is quickest over Derby distance

Graham Holland's Swords Style took the breath away with his trapping on his Towcester debut last week, but he failed to run the opening bend. With that experience tucked safely under his belt, he bolted out the traps again to run out an impressive 28.71 scorer, the fastest of the Star Sports and Orchestrate Ltd English Greyhound Derby trial stakes.

Another who has shown plenty of early boot is Swift Magnison. Nick Deas's hound was beaten to the punch by Alright Wrighty yesterday but he had her measure down the back to clock 28.80 and add to his most recent win which came at the expense of King Memphis. 

The Other Chief was a 29.03 winner for Maxine Locke in his trial stake, a dog who has the natural ability to go a long way in a Derby if he can pick the right path. He showed plenty of guts to keep driving into a closing gap at the opening bend, making room for himself to get on the tail of the leader off the second bend. 

The fourth trial stake was the first open on the card where comments read the length of 'War and Peace' after the bumping. The time of 29.77 is irrelevant for Kevin Hutton's Venetian Will who came out on top. He closed out 2025 with a run to the final of the British Bred Derby where he finished third, getting his head in front for the first time since the semis of that competition.

An impressive sprinting win came from Shadow Storm for Richard Rees. A draw in three is wider than he wants, missing the break half a beat to make his task harder. He is, however, one of the quickest dogs in the country in a straight line and quickly paced up to take control at the opening bend in a smart 15.59.

A marathon contest ahead of the TV Trophy was a messy race where Innfield Fifi came out on top for Paul Young. This is probably far enough for her, but she showed a good attitude to get herself to the front when it mattered, though the clock just showed the nature of the race. 

A stayers maiden went to Craig Morris and Radical Story. He had a couple of near misses at Yarmouth and Sheffield in February and March, beaten a short head on each occasion. Picking up the running heading to the back straight the second time, he pulled miles clear with the runner-up to get himself off the mark.

Jean Liles took a 500m maiden with Skilled Prince who was the biggest priced winner on the card at 8/1. The puppy had only been seen once over four bends in the past back in December, kept to sprints since. He has plenty of early boot, getting himself enough of a lead to maintain the gallop.

Sheffield double for Michelle Brown

Tomahawk and Essex Gunner provided a pair of winners for Michelle Brown at Owlerton, making it 35 on the year so far. Four of those have been provided by Tomahawk who showed plenty of determination to get himself to the front late on over 480m. He had run well at Dunstall Park and Monmore on his last two starts, getting himself back on the winning track.

All three of Essex Gunner's wins this year have come over sprint trips, a pair of Suffolk Downs before showing the best early pace to add a 280m win here to his tally. This was right up there with the best of his efforts so far.

There was a visually impressive win over six bends for Jason Gray's Loxleys Forest. He had been behind Droopys Flare on his last two starts at the track in the Queen Mother Memorial Cup, getting himself out in front early on and never looking like he was going to come back to them.

Rose Draper continued her decent form with Slippy Keith who clung on in the closest finish of the afternoon. It was already his seventh win of a very productive year, his last three all coming in these Sunday Invitationals. 

The big surprise of the afternoon came in the opening contest with Ballymac Buddy suffering a 1/6 reversal at the paws of Richie Taberner's Holding Aero. There were no excuses, however, the winner ran a better bend to wrest the lead off the railer and kept digging in off the front. 

Just a sprint open at Star Pelaw

Samantha Atkinson had the winner of the only open on the Star Pelaw card in the evening as Caseys Dylan showed the best early gears to see off the odds-on favourite Tickets Outlaw. It was a first open race success since a debut win for Atkinson back in October, though he had picked up a couple of D1 contests in the meantime.