An exciting week's Greyhound racing with the start of the Derby and the final of the T.V Trophy the highlights, in all we entered 11 dogs in the premier event and 7 of these are in todays second round draw of which on the whole I'm quite pleased with, I have reviewed the heats in the open race column, I would like to say well done to Blue Square the Derby sponsors for the great coverage on their live web cast which produced pictures of real quality and anyone who is not able to go to Wimbledon to watch the next round should log in to their site and watch the excellent coverage. Congratulations also to Lorraine Sam's trainer of T,V.Trophy hero Spiridon Louis you can sense how much these big race wins mean to her.

Our 5 To Follow competition is going very well so anyone who intends to enter please don't leave it to the last minute as you might be disappointed!

If you have tried to enter online and have had problems with the form, it may be a browser issue or a slow connection, please keep trying. Alternatively, there is also now a postal version of the entry form available that can be posted off with your cheque. This can be downloaded from the entry page.

OPEN RACING

In Tuesday's Sky opens supporting the T.V Trophy final at Yarmouth we had three runners with Ronnies Hare in a hot sprint race and Fear Mykeo in a good bitches contest both of these were out of the frame and it was left to Genesis Alix to do the business for the delighted Gavin Cheeseman in the 842m winning a shade cossily at 10-1.

Thursday at Walthamstow our pups Kinda Sure, Night Night, Lockdale Duke,Paid In Cash and Like Hot Cakes were all up against the odds in the second round of the Graphite (U.K) Puppy Derby and it was left to Like Hot Cakes to fly the flag for the kennel when she battled bravely to Qualify for next Tuesdays semi-final. Meanwhile the main action centered around the first batch of heats for the Derby at Wimbledon, the first runner from our kennel was Discreet Cat in heat 2 and going in to the traps punters at the track backed him from 12's to 8-1 a moderate start left him at the back going in the first bend but as the field crowded he railed to get in a good position and although still lying in 5th at the last two bends he railed again and powered up the home straight to grab 2nd place btn 3 1/4 lgths in 28.90 by Forest Scholes.

Fear Armani had his work cut out in heat 6 with joint ante-post favourite Fear Haribo in opposition and when he was crowded at the first bend it looked even harder but to his credit  he never gave up and in the end was 5th only btn just over 2 lghts to surprise winner Droopys Tobey in 28.83. Butterbridge Ali had the luxury of four going through in heat 8 and after a slow start and crowding around the first two bends he was grateful for the safety net as he ran on well to snatch the last qualifying position btn 4 1/4 lgths as Farloe Jester won in 28.80 though I would say Ali will be much fitter for the next round. Heat 10 with both Raging Jack and Eye Onthe Veto pitched together it was finger nail biting time but when 'Veto' exploded from the traps it was game over for the other dogs in the race as he strode out majestically to scorch round in 28.55 with a 4.87 sectional, Raging Jack made a very slow start and couldn't get competitive but in truth ran way below his best in 4th place.

On Friday we returned to Romford with a few runners and both Ronnies Hare(2nd), Treacle Star(3rd) and Daisyfield Matti(4th) ran well but it was an Evan Herbet double in the shape of Roswell Pheonix who ran bravely to get up on the line in the bitches only 400m race to win by the shortest margin in 24.72. Roswell Spaceman now 4 1/2 years old was in div 2 of the standard and after his flying start never looked like getting beat crossing the line to win by over 3 lgths in 24.35 the fastest of the night what a dog! At Wimbledon the next batch of heats continued and we had Eye Onthe Flame in heat 14 but although he tried hard he looked out of his depth and finished last to the impressive Iceman Ross in 28.63, our other runner on the night was Directors Wish in heat 20 and after showing a bit more early than before it was unlucky to see him get crowded out of contention rounding the first 2 bends but as we know this big blue dog is as strong as anything in the second halve of a race and he qualified easy in 2nd place although he was well btn by 6 3/4  by Farloe Premier in a fast 28.58.

Saturdays heats 22-31 saw a big crowd at Wimbledon and we were confident of a decent show from our four runners first up was Centaur Decree who was in a tricky heat and when he just went on his nose a bit out of the traps he was bang in trouble and although he managed to get in third down the backstraight the field was tightly packed after slight crowding at the last two bends he lost ground to finish a disappointing last btn only just over 2 lghts to Blonde Joe in 28.89. In the very next heat Killer Keane and Fear Robben were drawn next to each other in traps 1 and 2, thankfully 'Keane' smashed out and made the first bend ahead of the field and this lightly raced dog stayed on well to hold of favourite Greenwell Storm in 28.73 ,Fear Robben ran well after being crowded at the first to qualify in third but only btn 2 lgths. Heat 30 looked on paper to be one of the toughest of the first round with anti-post favourite Droopys Robinho in trap 2 and our last runner Directors Chair in trap 3, plenty of money for our fellow saw his price drop to 3-1 at the off and when he burst out the traps it looked the punters were spot on but Robinho flew up the inside of Chair and pushed him out of the way to lead in to the bend but Chair to his credit stuck behind him and when they turned for home he switched to the outside to power past the favourite to win by 1 3/4 in 28.70 a very pleasing run.      

WALTHAMSTOW REVIEW

Tuesdays night graded action produced a good win for John Keefes Eye Onthe Jewel in the S1 when leading at the 5th bend to beat Centaur Iris by nearly 4 lgths in 40.03, Daisyfield Matti (2nd) and an improved Centaur Cappo (2nd) both ran well. Thursdays runners had tough races but it was nice to see Martin Issacsons Lode Star get a chance in trap 1 which he did not disappoint beating Centaur Iris in 40.16 by 3 1/2 lgths.Three puppies in a P5 is never ideal but it was good to see Eye Onthe Power get of the mark when winning in 29.37. Bell Tempest and Snappy Girl both came second in photos and their turn is surely just around the corner. On Saturday Ronnies Callum bounced back to winning ways with a masterful display of jumping to win the H1 by 5 lgths in 29.38, Pinehurst Silk, Treacle Rose, Blue Rizzler and Genesis Alix were all good seconds, Bell Classic has been a consistent greyhound for his owners Ron Akass and Alan Dee and when he led at the first the result was in no doubt winning by 3 1/4 in 29.07. Star of the night was Walthamstow specialist Fear Mykeo who blasted out of the traps and simply flew round winning by 1 1/2 lgths in a terrific 28.60.  

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

OPEN RACE:- EYE ONTHE VETO GRADED:- RONNIES CALLUM

WHATS ON THIS WEEK

Tuesday at Walthamstow sees the semi-finals of the Graphite(U.K) Puppy Derby with Like Hot Cakes looking to qualify for Saturdays £10,000 final, on Thursday we will be at Henlow for the heats of the Stondon St Leger and Friday and Saturday the second round of the Blue Square Greyhound Derby takes pride of place, the draw is being done Monday lunch time fingers crossed for our remaining runners, Saturday Night at Walthamstow should be busy as well with an all open card supporting the Graphite final.