Bettor.com Scottish Derby final tops a great card...
SHAWFIELD could hardly have wished for a better response from trainers to tonight’s big Bettor.com Scottish Derby final meeting in Glasgow with entries coming from Lands End to John O’Groats, well almost.
Ten open races have attracted runners of the highest class, proving that if you pay top drawer prizemoney you will attract the top drawer dogs and the sponsor’s PR director, Jayne Clarke, says she is delighted with the quality of greyhounds on show. “It’s a brilliant turn out,” she said, “and it has gone extremely well both on the track and behind the scenes.”
Total win prizemoney tonight is approaching £33,000, rich pickings at a time when owners and trainers have a gripe with prizemoney in general but they would have no complaints with Bettor.com’s commitment to their three competitions this year. It is well in excess of £100,000 and after Glasgow the show moves on to the Peterborough Derby and then the Northern Ireland Derby at Drumbo Park.
NO frilly bits and pieces in tonight’s Sky coverage of the Betfair Trainers’ Championship meeting at Perry Barr but wall to wall coverage of the big event with interviews throughout with the six competing handlers and snapshots of some of the runners at home at their kennels.
“I hope the competition is exciting as it has been for the past two years when we had to wait for the very last heat to determine the winner,” said producer Dave Lawrence, “I’m fingers crossed it goes right to the wire again!
“Charlie (Mr Lister OBE) has a very strong team and looks the one to beat but I’m hoping our dog gives him a run for his money in the third leg.” Lawrence owns Guinness Kev in partnership with brother Clive, Hobbsy, Darrell and a “couple of Wimbledon owners” and the lads fancy their chances from the outside box.
They have backed him and one live wire snapped up the 12-1 early doors this morning, none of that was left by the time the rest of the gang rang their bookies! “The price went immediately after one of us got the 12-1, I’ll just have to get up earlier in future,” threatened Lawrence.
Also in the show will be recordings of last week’s Puppy Derby won by Pat Rosney’s Newinn Rocket at Monmore and Saturday’s SIS Gold Cup final at Shelbourne where Milldean Panther, winner of his first 12 races, has now been beaten in his two most recent!
They demand immediate negotiations...
IN a climate where the number of licenced trainers has suffered a year on year fall of 108 (over 10%), continuing the recent trend, there is now evidence that there are resources available to help trainers who are in financial difficulties.
Recent initiatives such as the owners’ bonus scheme and the Bags track championship are welcome but only benefit graded trainers. One group who have not benefitted are open race trainers.
Quality open racing is now seen as a means of driving turnover with an increasing presence at Bags meetings, RPGTV, and Sky Sports. For example:
* Ladbrokes have recently declared “the quality of racing (Racing Post Greyhounds TV) has been quite exceptional and boosted turnover.”
* William Hill talks of a six-figure boost to turnover at Newcastle on a recent Sky meeting.
* Coral have stated “our on-line and telephone business has seen great upturn.”
* Betfair: “RPGTV has made a very encouraging start in terms of the positive impact it has had on turnover.” Betfair regularly match over £1m per evening.
* Bet365 “we have so far seen excellent levels of business on the RPGTV programme, with turnover exceeding our expectation.”
But venue and sponsor yet to be confirmed...
MARCH fast approaches but there is no firm indication thus far over the venue and timing for the TV Trophy, a standing order for live coverage on Sky Sports and one of the most eagerly-awaited greyhound shows on the box.
The delay has consequently seen a number of trainers expressing concern about the event, traditionally staged in the first half of the year, either in April or May, actually taking place.
However, there was reassuring news yesterday from the show’s producer, Dave Lawrence, that the competition will go ahead and a September slot is looking favourite.
“There is every intention on the GRA’s part, and ours, to stage the TV Trophy and it would be helpful if a would-be promoter would come forward with an offer to put it on while we would also like to hear from a potential sponsor,” he said.
Premier channel for Premier event!....
THOSE with access to Premier Sports (Sky channel 433) will have no excuses for missing a single race as the Inaugural BETDAQ Premier League Greyhounds builds to a climax on grand finals night at Doncaster on February 24.
The first qualifiers went out on Sky last week and supported the Yorkshire St Leger final but for those who have expressed concern that they will be unable to watch the remaining five meetings of the Premier League need not fear.
Yes, Premier Sports is a subscription channel but come 7.30pm on Saturday, 3 December, the Yarmouth qualifiers, and what a show this promises to be, will be available to ‘all-comers’ as the station switches over to free view.
There are five nights of the Premier League coverage to come, after the Yarmouth qualifiers in little less than a fortnight’s time the cameras go back to the Norfolk track on January 14 and 28 for the Premier League proper and then to Doncaster on 10 February and then back to the Yorkshire venue when the event will draw to a conclusion.
. . . and the Red Devils’ Michael Owen might also put in an appearance
THE Betfair Laurels final coverage on Sky from Belle Vue tomorrow promises to be an action-packed show with Eden Star topping the bill in the big race while the usual host of supporting opens over four distances will add to the excitement.
But just as much interest will centre on the recordings of the recent big races, including the Irish Grand National win at Harolds Cross by Olivers Twist, Ballymac Ace’s victory in the Joe Hardy Memorial final at Sunderland for Chris Allsopp and Milldean Panther’s tenth consecutive win at Shelbourne on Saturday.
. . . and the final is live on Sky next week
EDEN STAR was just 10 spots outside the track record set four years ago by Barnfield On Air when running away with his Betfair Laurels semi-final over 470 metres at Belle Vue last night.
Barrie Draper’s dog was away well enough and ran them ragged from the first bend, skating up by almost six lengths from main rival, Oneco Black, in 27.30sec.
It is now eight wins and two seconds from ten races for Eden Star, the dog who was schooled around the tight bends of Derry in Northern Ireland.
Newcastle show had it all......
DON’T know your thoughts on the Sky broadcast from Newcastle on Wednesday but our take was that it was one of the best shows so far this year with plenty of variety, including archive footage of the two greyhounds who did more in modern times to raise the profile of this sport than any other, Mick The Miller notwithstanding that is!
The sight of Ballyregan Bob winging his way to a world record number of consecutive wins at Hove and the enigmatic Scurlogue Champ landing his second Television Trophy at Brough Park, as Newcastle was then known, brought memories flooding back of a golden era for greyhound racing.
...and it could pay to wait for the late arrivals!
TWO kennels very much to the fore in recent months may provide the answer to an intriguing St Leger final at Wimbledon on Tuesday, a competition which this year has hardly unearthed a champion staying dog.
It is fair to say that the 2011 renewal has been one of the least memorable of recent years which, in itself, gives the final a wide-open appearance but also illustrates the dearth of top class stayers around just now.
It is doubtful that Tuesday’s final will go down as one of the best of all time and whether also it will produce a winner of the calibre of past St Leger winners, including Forward King, successful in 1967 and the only greyhound to win both an English and Scottish St Leger.
...and withdrawals did nowt to help!
GARY MATTHEWS and his associates in the Wimbledon racing office would have every reason to breath a big sigh of relief when what really has been a nightmare of a St Leger finally comes to a conclusion on Tuesday next week.
Right from the start there were problems when the competition looked like falling short of entries, a situation which helped bring about one of the GRA’s biggest-ever phone bills from BT as Matthews and his colleagues feverishly began ringing around for runners!
They got there in the end but the gremlins soon got to work, first when Droopys Greg was withdrawn from the quarter-finals after “over exerting” himself in round one and then when the fastest first-round winner, Paul Hennessy’s Irish runner Barefoot Machine, was withdrawn off-colour.
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