LUCKY AND CALL STAR AS OPENS RETURNS TO UK

Ian Fortune

Open racing only returned to the UK at the weekend with the former Francie Murray inmate Rob Roy winning the first official open post lockdown at Romford on Friday.

The first major open competition began at Central Park yesterday evening and two youngsters emerged as potential stars in the opening round of the Colossus Bets Silver Salver.

There were six heats of the sprint competition and it was notable that the joint fastest heat winners have yet to reach two years of age. Ballynabee Lucky was having his first start over two bends but it was scarcely evident as he saw off his nearest rival Grays Cup Winner by a length and a half in 16.16.

A little later Shrewd Call produced a particularly eye-catching run, destroying his rivals in the penultimate heat. The September ’18 whelp displayed massive early speed to leave the opposition standing and he proceeded to hit the line three and a quarter lengths to the good in 16.16.

With the sponsor offering a £10,000 bonus if any greyhound goes through the competition unbeaten, both youngsters have the potential to achieve just that. Watch this space!

For the record the remaining heats were won by Druids Bonanza (16.42), King Drake (16.23), Lightfoot Rio (16.54) and Coolavanny Dylan (16.35).