Fabulous Romeo Greyhound Runs Dominate the Week Across UK Tracks

Fabulous Romeo runs dominate the week

Another week, another track record at Nottingham as Colwick Park continues to produce flying times. Last week it was the turn of Mongys Wild who took a massive 29 spots off the record equalled by Fabulous Heka just a week earlier in the Select Stayers. Although the track has been lightning fast of late, he didn’t take the lead until late in the day, with Droopys Flare in second also inside the clock.

The quality of greyhound that the team of Patrick Janssens and Dave Firmager have at their disposal at present is frightening. They picked up three POW awards, led by new Yarmouth track record holder Romeo Steel. His 27.04 was half a length slower than he clocked in a pre East Anglian Derby trial. He could be the first to dip under 27 seconds for the 462m distance on Wednesday.

Three semis of the BGBF Produce Stakes at Swindon on Saturday afternoon saw Romeo Ability go quickest in a race where his litter brother Romeo Alliance failed to make the decider. It had been the other way round in the Puppy Classic at Nottingham with Swindon not looking to suit Alliance so well. Take nothing away from Eagles Respect who chased Ability home, he is a six-bend star in the making for 2026.

Romeo Tomcat is the third on the list this week for the Janssens/Firmager juggernaut. He was electric at Doncaster on Saturday night, clocking a flying 29.01 over 483m, a new quickest of the year. Doncaster has had some excellent opens in recent weeks and the semis of this competition next Saturday will be worth the price of admission alone.

Another dog who is worth paying serious money to watch is Magical Luka. Kevin Hutton’s Coral Romford Puppy Cup semi-final winner is electric, making it 11/11 in his career on Friday night. These performances have seen him leapfrog to the top of the market for the 2026 English Greyhound Derby. That will be a very different test for his stamina but there is no doubt the natural talent is there.

Whether the 2026 Derby is at Towcester or not is yet to be decided but the Northamptonshire venue saw the semis of the bet365 Empress Stakes on Sunday afternoon. Silverhill Freya was quickest of the bitches, despite missing her break and having to fight her way to the lead at the opening bend. She is a class act and will no doubt be a warm order next week in the decider.

The Arena Racing Company Scurry and National Sprint are still to be held to help find the top sprinter of the year. Stonepark Hoffa has made his mark as amongst the top in the division, landing another Sunderland contest on Friday. He owns three of the top four times of the year over 261m, winning six of his eight starts at the track this year.

Sunnyside Jayden is the dog to win the two races that Stonepark Hoffa has not won at Sunderland, successful himself at Sheffield, a fifth straight win for Ted Soppitt's speedball. He produced the second quickest 280m time of the year on his first ever race at Owlerton. That's 14 on the year now, just five greyhounds have more open race wins in 2025.

Keeping with the theme of sprinters, it was Beaming Isla who came out on top at Hove on Thursday night in a 285m contest that contained both Broadway Murty and Uncle Ed who had taken the award the prior two weeks. Third in the Arena Racing Company Kent Silver Salver final back in June, she has really found her winning stride over the summer.

Top of the sprinting tree at Monmore at present is Kim Billingham-Hine's Newinn Bachelor. He was five spots shy of his POW winning effort from last week but it was still more than enough to see him go back-to-back as he completed a hat-trick of victories. 

It takes a serious run to knock Start The Engine off the top spot at Oxford these days and that is exactly what Heather Dimmock saw her Droopys Mikado produce. His 39.26 is the second fastest 650m time of the year so far. 8/13 in a four runner race, it looked a great opportunity for him on paper, but they still have to prove that to be the case on the sand and he did so in serious style.

Gymcrack winner Elusivenomore made it five wins from six runs at Newcastle with a 28.39 success on Thursday. Only a troubled passage in the semis of the Northern Flat have cost him the sweep. Last week was a career best on just start number 13.

There wasn't much to choose between a few runs at Central Park on Saturday night. King Pavarotti's D1 win and Hasty Lottie's maiden success were both rock-solid performances but in the end a 29.15 victory for Maxine Locke's Ballymac Blanco was enough to see him come out on top. 

Seven opens on the card at Star Pelaw on Sunday night saw Westfield Bullet quickest over two bends and Bombay Fantasy over six but it was Tromora Meg over 435m who landed the top win of the evening. She was almost a length back from her winning time the week before but it was enough to put her name in the top eight times of the year for a third time.

Hard to know what to make of the first week of Dunstall Park while the track settles in. Oswoald was the fastest of the week over 480m while Headford Sonny went quickest in a 270m sprint. With the Premier Greyhound Racing Oaks and the aforementioned Scurry coming up at the track in the coming weeks, we'll have a far better idea of times then.

Another back-to-back winner was Kinsley's Holborn Betty. Even 268m stretches her a touch at this stage but her early gears in graded sprints have seen her notch up four straight wins for Ilijan Zivkovic. She is still a puppy, so there should be a little bit more to come from her.

To finish off a slew of sprint winners this week is Black Chintz. Sharon Saberton's sprinter has won all four of her starts since returning from four months off, with last week's win the best of her career so far.

We end with Valley and Da Bold Paris who produced a 28.18 success. His A2 win last week was enough to see him get the award and remaining at the same level saw him add another win to his tally and gain another POW for Martin Thomas.