Droopys Belletti fastest in the Coral Regency heats
The Coral Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium welcomed greyhound racing enthusiasts last night to come and witness the opening four heats of the Coral Regency across 695m.
Droopys Belletti (7-4) was the first of 24 hopefuls to secure his place at next week’s semi-finals, also managing to clock the fastest time on the night of 41.35secs in the opening heat.
The Charlie Lister-trained dog made a suited trap five start and was the fastest to reach the first bend, then switched to a preferred wide position and took the race by two and a half lengths to defeat Group Skater.
Skater (6-4F) replaced Belletti in the markets as favourite just before the race and would have stood a stronger chance in paying dividends if not having faced the early crowding at the first bend, but he continued to run on and will join Belletti in the semi-finals along with Blonde Blitz (14-1) who clocked 41.94secs to take third.
Belletti maintained his unbeaten record over six bends having scored on his staying debut at Doncaster last month in the Betfair Trainers Championship. He has once again been gifted with a wide position draw and will make a trap six start in the semi-finals, which should provide for a very strong chance in him qualifying through to the final in May.
Only one-and-a-half length separates the times of all four heat winners in the Category One competition, which makes it a very tight call on whom to back. Although Belletti has been running well, it’s still early days and he has been fortunate to be drawn wide in a competition which has many suited wide runners.
Dean Childs’s Bush Paddy (6-1) in heat four may be one to keep tabs on. He clocked the second fastest time of 41.38secs to defeat Bridge Diamond (7-4F) by two lengths.
Paul Young’s Centurion Enry (3-1) took heat two with great early pace and literally led from the first bend to clock a time of 41.43sec. Midway Skipper (10-1) who didn’t have the best of starts did considerably well to finish in second and I am just tempted to put money down on this dog.
Tony Gifkins’s Capel Smiley (7-4) was the show stopper in heat three as he produced a tremendous performance to defeat favourite Crown Rover (4-5F) by a quarter of a length, clocking 41.47secs.
Next week’s semi-finals will see through the best six to compete for the £8000 prize. The actual final itself is scheduled to commence on May 4th and will be a Sky Sports televised event.
Draw for next Thursday’s semi finals:
First: 1 Bush Paddy, 2 He Went Whoosh (w), 3 Blonde Blitz (w), 4 Capel Smiley (w), 5 Bridge Diamond (w), 6 Droopys Belletti (w).
Second: 1 Midway Skipper, 2 Group Skater, 3 Crown Rover, 4 Centurion Enry (m), 5 Brimardon Star (w), 6 Kilkenny Prince (w).
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