A chance at winning Europe’s richest greyhound race is less than half-a-minute away for three north-east men who only purchased their star canine two months ago.
Droopys Bookem has qualified for the English Greyhound Derby semifinals after finishing second in Saturday’s opening quarterfinal at Towcester Racecourse in Northamptonshire.
The two-year-old blue dog was purchased by friends Tom Heilbron, Ben Collins and Michael Young in the spring, and he’s now one of 12 greyhounds in with a chance of scooping the £175,000 first prize.
Reaching the semifinals broke new ground for the trio, including Tom – who doubles up as Droopys Bookem’s trainer – whose best previous Derby effort came in 2021 when Pacemaker Ted bowed out at the quarterfinal stage.
From an initial entry of 192, the fastest dog in the north must now finish in the first three of his respective semifinal to feature in the showpiece event on Saturday, June 14.
And co-owner Ben is keeping his fingers crossed his lifetime dream of reaching the Derby final as an owner can be fulfilled.
“We were all elated,” said Ben. “To finish on the tail of Cheap Sandwiches in the quarterfinals when not everything went his way during the race gave us some buzz.
“Once he turned off the second bend in third, we were confident he’d qualify as it’s unlikely anything will catch him from behind.
“He had to use his brain and to be in the final 12 is incredible, so it’s going to be another long week of non-stop thinking about Saturday’s semifinal. (Droopys) Bookem is as cool as they come, so he’s probably blissfully unaware of how excited we all are.”
Although Droopys Bookem has avoided the Derby’s two favourites – Bockos Diamond and Cheap Sandwiches – in the semifinal, he will line-up next to defending champion De Lahdedah in trap three.
Sole Mio, Slick Sentinel, Bombay Pat and Churchfield Syd also feature in the blockbuster race where only the first three to finish will qualify.
Despite now getting his inside draw, Ben is hopeful a run from the middle won’t put Droopys Bookem off.
“We were hoping to be one of the first two out of the hat,” said Ben. “It wasn’t to be, but we’ve always felt he can run his race from any box.
“There is a lot of early pace in the race, and I think the rest of the field will be reliant on getting their pitch early to qualify. He’ll be staying on strong at the end, so all we want is to finish in the top three – just like everyone else.”
Photo: Jim Tate.
