Towcester eyeing 2027 Greyhound Derby bid despite late drama

Track will listen to feedback from on and off the track 

TOWCESTER is to "throw its hat into the ring" to stage the 2027 Star Sports & Orchestrate Ltd English Greyhound Derby after a hugely successful running of the famous event which came to a brilliant - and dramatic - conclusion at the Northamptonshire track on Saturday.

Dramatic in terms of a brilliant final won by record-breaking Paul Hennessy with Lennies Eddie fending off the dual challenge of the Ballymacs, Deniro and Duffle, in the £125,000 decider, but also the fact that attempts had been made overnight to sabotage the event.

Intruders had overnight concreted a section of the hare rail and it was only the work of groundsman Josh Sealey and his team which allowed racing to go ahead later that afternoon

A Towcester spokesman said: "We would assume the antis managed to get into the grounds here and were able to tamper with the hare mechanism.

"It wasn't the cleverest to do and was a ham-fisted attempt to sabotage the night, but that was never going to happen. The team here worked tirelessly throughout the morning and everything went without a hitch thereafter. The police were informed straight away."

Overall, Towcester was delighted with the turnout for Derby final night, despite dreadful weather conditions.

"It was definitely a real throwback in terms of the number of faces here," said Towcester chairman Mike Davis of the all Irish-trained final.

"You could see fans of the sport from over the years flocking back here, mixing with new racegoers, and everyone seemed to have a fun night - despite what the weather was trying to do to us!

"The overall experience was lived by all that were there, with some great racing and a brilliant Derby final giving all greyhound fans a real buzz am sure - but once again the greyhounds themselves were the stars of the show.

"It really couldn't have gone any better in the circumstances and we have a very worthy Derby winner - congratulations to Paul and Susan Hennessy, and to Lee Craze."

Davis himself cheered on his Strike It Skye, trained by Mark Wallis, to a narrow victory over Richard Rees's Scooby The Lady in a thrilling Premier Greyhound Racing Consolation Derby Invitation.

"It takes two great greyhounds to produce such a great race - and Scooby The Lady played her part, and some! But that was some buzz and why we're all involved and love greyhound racing. Like the Derby final itself, it was a great advert for a great sport."

James Chalkley, new director of racing at the Northamptonshire venue, was another delighted with how the night's racing unfolded.

"The track held up well despite the weather and we had a winner from every trap. I thought the racing was tremendous, with most of the UK's best greyhounds here tonight along with a powerful Irish team, and some brilliant races and finals.

"Obviously we will listen to any feedback and are not afraid to make changes. There has been a lot done here in a short space of time and it's still very much a work in progress, but we're delighted with things so far."

All the hospitality and executive boxes were fIlled on the night with 600 VIP customers catered for and a booked-out grandstand restaurant.

Richard Thomas, Towcester's CEO, added: "Operationally everything went smoothly but, again, we will listen to feedback moving forward.

"This year's Derby has been a real success in terms of customer involvement and has clearly had a knock-on effect. Our Sunday lunches here alongside the racing have been growing steadily - and we actually had the most bookings so far for today's meeting (Sunday) - the afternoon after the night before, if you like - so there's been an obvious knock-on effect.

"As Mike says it was a great success for the sport. We'll look at the figures, have a debrief, but will throw our hat into the ring to secure the 2027 English Greyhound Derby here at Towcester."