These Westmeads are hard to beat …
… in a final!

Westmead Lord didn’t win a round but wins the final of the Greyhound Derby from trap 6. Take nothing away from this dog it was fast out the traps and stayed on well to resist the challenge of Loyal Honcho (trap 5). How does Nick Savva manage to get such improvement in the Westmeads when it comes to the final ? He is a great trainer; with luck on his side.

Loyal Honcho didn’t trap well and ran only up to its average time and I think that trap 6 would have suited it better. I don’t think it recovered from its poor performance in the semi-final although it was running on at the finish. It wasn’t good enough on the night.

One dog that did improve on its performance, though ,was 3rd placed Forest Scholes (trap 1) with a 28.74 sec time. Could it come back next year and break the bogie of trap 1 (which has never housed the Greyhound Derby winner)? It is a possibility, provided it got through to the final and then was awarded trap 1. You never know. I wonder what the odds would be on that happening? Anyway keep your eye on Forest Scholes in the future.

I bet Amarillo Slim 3rd in last years final and Loyal Honcho 2nd in this years final – maybe I will get the winner of the 2008 renewal. Eh!

Now comes the reckoning: My betting exploits in total cost me a loss of 19 points on the Derby. The only pick-up was the each way money on 14/1 Loyal Honcho for 2nd place. Ah! Well! It was a good try from something around 100 dogs in the contest.

With the number of mishaps in the Derby you couldn’t go to war with only one selection and as they dropped out it became more difficult to make a profit. But as usual I got a lot of entertainment out of trying my hand at picking the winner…

Dream Dogs Competition update? I ended up with 90 points–the winner got 136. So, no luck there!.

We will see what’s next on the agenda…Maybe the Irish Greyhound Derby but I might wait until some heats have been run to get rid of some of the no-hopers...And there are other races to consider. As I said, we'll see..

Come racing!!

Loyal Honcho could do it...

…win the Greyhound Derby; that is.






I was disappointed that Loyal Honcho was beaten into 2nd place by the bitch Dilemmas Flight but there are excuses for that because in the semi-final the traps failed to open and the dogs had to be removed from their traps and checked over by the vet.

It did not affect Dilemmas Flight, a more experienced dog, who flew out of the trap on the second attempt, and showed the field a clean pair of heels all the way to the finish!

Loyal Honcho looked all at sea when it emerged out of its trap and it took a long time to catch Dilemmas Flight; a dog that will take a lot of beating in the final.

Looking at the graph the signs are that the three that ought to be involved in the finish are trap 3 Dillemmas Flight, trap 5 Loyal Honcho and trap 6 Westmead Lord.

Loyal Honcho’s figures show that it has some consistently good times except for the last run which shows a dip; if it can recover from the effects of that last run I think it will win.

Dilemmas Flight’s last 4 runs are ultra-consistent and can’t be ignored but I think Loyal Honcho will just shade it. In fact I have placed a further 4 points win on Honcho at 7/4; but I've missed the value because it is available at 9/4 now.

Westmead Lord’s performance looks on a par with Ullid Connor’s, except for its last run and should run a lively race from the outside trap 6.

But anything can happen in the Derby ; remember how Razldazl Billy came from out of the clouds to pulverise the opposition in last year’s Irish Derby ? I hope Ullid Conor doesn’t do the same!

I have 86 points in the Dream Dogs Competition – the leaders have over 100; so I have no chance.

Come racing!!