Tight Dunstall finals next week while Wallis dominates at Sunderland

Steel quickest in the Laurels in a night of close times

Romeo Steel was behind Droopys Aladdin in the heats of the Arena Racing Company Laurels last week, the pair both successful in their respective semis last night.

Patrick Janssens's charge was just the quicker of the pair, producing a 28.20 run compared to 28.22 for Mike Burton's winner. The pair both made every yard of the running from the innermost draw off identical 2.98 splits. They saw off Droopys Trade for Craig Morris and Maxine Locke's Ballymac Blanco respectively. 

The draw for the final therefore was the most important part of the evening for both sets of connections with Romeo Steel being drawn in the red jacket and Droopys Aladdin in three.

It was Tom Heilbron's Toddys Wolf who bravely fended off the challengers to claim the other semi-final. This trip is as far as he wants to go but he dug deep to ward off Sams Magic before being challenged late by No Better Feelin. Esther Driver's runner made the final six.

He will be the sole seeded runner in the final outside of five railers. That will give him plenty of supporters looking for a spot of value in case those on the inside tangle. 

It was also the semis of the Category Two Dunstall Dash where Stuart Tighe was the man to beat, picking up two of the three contests. Good Acclaim was just the quickest of the winners, winning for the ninth time in just 11 starts for the kennel. 

From day one he looked capable of taking high rank amongst the sprinters and he has taken well to the competition life to show that to be the case. There is still more to do but he remains unexposed in what is suddenly a fascinating division. Guys and Dolls winner Newinn Souly chased him home for Kim Billingham-Hine. 

Just two spots slower was his kennelmate Brickhill Tamika. He ran exclusively over four bends at Galway when trained in Ireland but the move to Tighe saw him quickly dropped after cramping on his 435m debut at Star Pelaw. Rose Draper's Swift Hostile took the runner-up spot to make another final on the heels of his Coral Golden Sprint runner-up effort.

It is a shame that Jazzy George will not be lining up next week for Kevin Hutton having taken the other semi-final. Runner-up in the Scurry at this track last autumn, he clearly loves the venue, also making the final of the Sandy Lane Sprint last month. Two spots slower than Tamika, Droopys Will for Maxine Locke will be the sole representative from that contest in the £5,000 decider. 

Wallis with a treble as Vhagar goes quickest in the Grand Prix 

Vhagar was comfortably the quickest of the four winners in the Arena Racing Company Grand Prix heats at Sunderland. She was 60 spots in front of any of the other three heat winners which meant that Greenwell Bolt who chased her home was the second quickest qualifier of the night. She was also the first leg of a treble from the four heats for Mark Wallis.

It was Bombay Nutty who returned to winning ways to notch the second fastest time of the Wallis winners. He has been running with consistency but had only come home in front once in his last 16 starts. Having popped out in front, however, to was soon apparent that he was not going to be for catching.

The final heat of the four went to Wallis's Newinn Cloud who tracked round Droopys Cardi who had shown the best pace up, proving too strong for that rival coming home. An underrated performer due to the quality around him in the kennel, this was one of five Category One finals he made during 2025. 

Jimmy Fenwick's Zenith Magic denied a Wallis clean sweep, winning the opening heat by half a length over Table Toppers. The victor has generally been seen in graded racing since joining Fenwick from David Mullins but showed that he can hang with decent greyhounds over a longer trip. 

Young's pup is magnificent at Romford

The heats of the JR Racing Puppy Cup at Romford last night produced a couple of smart winners for Paul Young, led by Gav Nifient. He has improved nicely from race to race so far in his career, deeply impressive last night to stop the clock at 23.61 in just the third race of his life. 

His kennelmate Lesleys Buddy has improved dropped back to sprinting the last couple of weeks but had more than enough in hand of his field to maintain the gallop. There are not many Shima Shine's in the UK, so it will be interesting to see his progress. He has been put over some decent bitches which suggests that we are going to see plenty more.

It was nice to see Bob Pattinson pick up the other heat with Headford Sirl. She was only the second open runner for the kennel in the last six months and the first of 2026. A half-sister to the speedy Cree Jo Jo, she paced up with a smart 3.68 split. 

There were another couple of winners for Young on the undercard with Pacey Ceasar and Mahoonagh Hoffa just a spot apart in their winning runs. The former got the job done for the first time for Young last week in an A3, and with confidence buoyed by that win, he followed up in this better contest. 

The other was the biggest surprise on the evening, successful at 18/1 in a race where a short head, neck and short head covered the first four across the line. Young had four of the runners in the race with the 25/1 second and a 16/1 third. Bombay Buck saw his winning run come to an end from the widest draw.

Nathan Hunt was responsible for the other three open race winners on the night. Mad For Cash was impressive again over 575m, stopping the clock in 34.78. She has won six of her 11 starts in 2026, shaping well here, a family trait as she is closely related to Mad For Stirling. The dam has a February 25 litter by Signet Ace who could be worth watching out for in the coming months.

Another 575m winner for Hunt was Inca Lewie. He blitzed to a track and trip win three weeks back, sandwiching an unlucky run at Suffolk Downs. He had no trouble leading up his rivals, running out a comfortable five-length winner at the line. 

Bretons Girl has stepped back up to 400m with success of late at this track having picked up some sprint contests both at this track and in top grade at Monmore. When she is on her game, she is a hugely quick bitch, clocking a flying 3.54 split on her way to victory last night. 400m is as far as she wants but when she traps like that, it's hard to contain her.