THE draw for Sunday’s semi-finals of the Ladbrokes Kent St Leger at Crayford over 714m has seen all four heat winners come together in the first of two qualifiers in what looks a race to savour.

Coonough Crow started the ball rolling and continued her affinity with the Kent circuit by setting the fastest time in Sunday’s opening round. Twice a finalist in the Premier Greyhound Racing Golden Jacket over C&D, Mark Wallis’s runner had posted the fastest first round time in that competition this year and now repeated the dose as a fast start set up a first-bend lead after which the 2023 Arc Grand Prix champion piled on the pressure for a runaway success.

Not stopping over the Kent track’s two laps, the October 2020 daughter of Eden the Kid and Coonough Dolly raced away for an 11 and a quarter lengths win over Droopys Moose (Jamie Kingsley), with last year’s winner qualifying for this weekend’s semi-finals in third. The winning time was a slick 45.04sec (+30).

Wallis then landed a double in heat two as his Golden Jacket third Ballymac Taylor made a successful return to Crayford with a typically strong-running victory.

The September 2021 daughter of Ballymac Anton and Ballymac Merkle, runner-up to Bubbly Inferno in the Stadium Bookmakers TV Trophy at Oxford, turned in third and was always on the premises thereafter, taking up the running approaching the winning line first time before going on for a five-length win in 45.51sec (+30).

Qualifying behind Ballymac Taylor and making it into Sunday’s semi-finals were Maleficent (Robert Emery) and Droopys Flotilla (Nathan Hunt).

Razldazl Amanda then initiated an impressive double for Ricky Holloway in heat three as the November 2021 daughter of Superior Panama and Razldazl Mya made all to score by almost ten lengths from Longacres Porto (Pat Doocey) and Swift Delta (Tony Collett), clocking a fast 45.16sec (+40) in the process.

The Holloway double was completed by Razldazl Amanda’s litter brother Dazl Rolex as the reigning Premier Greyhound Racing Golden Jacket winner wore down longtime leader Baywatch Bullet (Belinda Green) for a length success over that rival and Terrific Tonic (Barry O’Sullivan) in 45.52sec (+30).

Into the semi-finals now, the prospect of a first Golden Jacket/Kent St Leger double winner remains a possibility in the form of Dazl Rolex, albeit Crayford racing manager Danny Rayment understands there is plenty still to do given a classy line-up for the two semis.

“We perhaps didn’t have the overall numbers we hoped for, but now down to the last 12 you can see there’s huge class on show.

“Coonough Crow seems to love it here. Even though she was beaten the previous week, you sensed that was just her warming up for the event and seeing Crayford again – and, to be fair, Droopys Flotilla was impressive off the front. I knew she’d improved for that, but even so Sunday’s win really was impressive.

“Mark then won heat two with Ballymac Taylor who just is so difficult to keep out of the equation – she’s so strong – but then, not to be outdone, Ricky (Holloway) weighed in with two winners himself and, Razldazl Amanda and Dazl Rolex being littermates, that’s an achievement in itself and both impressed in their own way.

“I know they were thinking about the Derby with Rolex so he’d been off since winning here in March after the Golden Jacket the previous month. You’d say he’d have probably needed the run so will definitely come on – and he will need to because all four winners are in against each other, as well as last year’s winner Low Pressure.

“That’s some race in itself here on Sunday!”

 

Trap draw for Sunday’s semi-finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Crayford/form-guides/Crayford-Sunday-12th-May-2024-Open-Race-Form.pdf