Greyhound News: Snow hits fixture list

Greyhounds News / Editor / 03 February 2009 / Leave a Comment

Poor weather has knocked out dog meetings across the country.

The weather is taking its toll on the greyhound racing programme, although the good news is that tonight's (Tuesday) big meeting at Swindon goes ahead. The meeting includes the heats of the Arc. The event switches from the now closed Walthamstow where it was first run in the late 1980s.

Among the favourites is the Liz McNair-trained Shaneboy Luke.

A track spokesman said: "Our one fear wasn't the condition of he track, it's well and truly raceable. But it's the travelling here by the trainers. But we've spoken to them and, providing conditions don't worsen, they are confident of getting here for kennelling."

Hove's meeting also goes ahead, but Wimbledon has been cancelled. A spokesman at the Plough Lane venue said: "We had the track covered because of the stock car racing and the volume of snow which landed on the tarpaulin has proved almost impossible to dislodge."

The Bags programme was affected on Monday with Hall Green and Swindon abandoned without a race being run.

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Nebuchadnezzar ([4.1]) and Platinumlancelot ([3.55]) are the new favourites for the Springbok after both won their heats at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Fastest on the clock was the Jason Foster-trained Platinumlancelot and he ran away from his rivals to win by over ten lengths in 28.05. Lorraine Sams' Nebuchadnezzar also won easily by 11 lengths in 28.20sec.

The pair have missed each other in the semi-finals, which take place on Friday, with the live-on-Sky final on Tuesday week.

Semi-final line-up:
First semi: 1 Kingdom Fantasy 2 Platinumlancelot 3 Rockburst Mason 4 Love Lynx (m) 5 Cats My Boy (w) 6 Kilgraney Agassi (w)

Second semi: 1 Stardome Storm 2 Bomber Bailey 3 Macarthur (m) 4 vacant 5 Freedom Man (w) 6 Rocky Rocket (w)

Third semi: 1 Bombagenic Rose 2 Nebuchadnezzar 3 Rabbit Fighter (m) 4 Mall Byte (m) 5 Emporio Caesar (w) 6 Deanridge Casper (w)

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Marathon queen Flying Winner will miss an intended appearance at Clonmel on Tuesday, after the weather put paid to the travel plans of Chris Lund's dog.

The National Festival dominates the Co. Tipperary town this week, although racing at the track at Clonmel has yet to take place due to flooding.

Chris Lund's TV Trophy winner could now feature on the supporting card to Tuesday's Springbok final at Wimbledon, the meeting live on Sky.

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The movers in the Derby market in the last week have been Charlie Lister's Ninja Jamie ([28.0]) and Matt Dartnall's Ballymac Ruso ([29.0]).

Ninja Jamie was the winner of the Yarmouth Derby last year in track-record time, while Ballymac Ruso travelled over to Ireland where he reached the Derby final at Shelbourne.

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Leading owner Mark Currell has split with his long-time trainer John Mullins, with the likes of Toosey Blue and Blonde Fern expected to make their return to the track under the name of a different handler in the coming weeks.

Currell opted to reduce his string of greyhounds towards the end of last year for business reasons, with Blonde Dino the subject of a high-profile switch to Rick Holloway's kennels.