Greyhound Derby Betting: Both semi-finals previewed in full

Derby Betting / Darrell Williams / 22 May 2008 / Leave a Comment

Under-rated throughout his career, the time has come for Toosey Blue to make his mark on the big stage. Darrell Williams previews both of Saturday night's Blue Square Greyhound Derby semi-finals at Wimbledon

The Greyhound Derby reaches the crucial semi-final stage at Wimbledon on Saturday - just one step away from a place in the £100,000 final - but equally for connections the possibility of the most agonising elimination they'll ever face.

Following Tyrur Kieran's defeat to Toosey Blue on Tuesday night, the competition suddenly looks a little more open again, with perhaps four or five dogs still realistically capable of claiming the biggest prize in greyhound racing.

It was only on Tuesday morning that I was watching back an old edition of 'The Dogs' from February in which John Mullins stated his ambition was to win the Derby, and in Blue he surely has his best chance to date of achieving that success.

Highly under-estimated throughout his career, Toosey, an Irish Derby semi-finalist last year, and regular big race finalist, has now beaten Kieran twice in this year's Derby. With the trap six box guaranteed should he reach next week's final, in all honesty he should be vying for favouritism, and yet once again is not being given the respect he deserves in the market. Now is probably also a good time to gently remind you that he was also one of the four semi-finalists, along with Tyrur Kieran, Barnfield On Air and Loyal Honcho that formed part of my seven strong ante-post portfolio at the start of the event.

As for Saturday's semi-final, it doesn't get much better with Tyrur Laurel and Kryptonite massive players alongside Toosey Blue, but it's the draw that just swings it the six dog's way, especially given that he broke better from the striped jacket in the quarter-final. Of course, Tyrur Laurel has a verdict over the selection in the previous round, and with Paul Hennessy's runner trapping again on Tuesday he's hard to ignore, especially as that run was undoubtedly his best of the event.

Then there's Kryptonite, who were it not for a short-head defeat to Blonde Dino last weekend, would be defending an unbeaten Derby run to this stage. Drawn further out than in previous rounds, he also faces having to clear Express Ego, who's likely to be cutting inwards, but nevertheless remains a threat of sorts. Lister's runner is hard to fault, but the trap four draw must be a slight concern, and even though I can still see him as a possible Derby winner, he faces a far tougher examination if he's to win this than the selection does.

Tyrur Kieran's chance in the second semi-final looks far more obvious, and despite the presence of Barnfield On Air on his immediate right, I fancy Paul Hennessy's runner to maximise his advantage early on from the red jacket. Barnfield On Air, after his massive
performance in the second round, has run a shade below par in the last two rounds, but of course remains more than capable, and if the pair of them were to go head-to-head down the back straight it might just be the race of the century!

Loyal Honcho reminded everyone that last year's runner-up is still a player on Tuesday, and in all reality he should qualify, although I certainly wouldn't under-estimate Blonde Dino who has only had a handful of runs this year and looks back to near his best.