NOTTINGHAM director Nathan Corden is ready to welcome the attention of the greyhound world to Colwick Park for the 2019 Star Sports, ARC & LPS Greyhound Derby.

 

Just the fifth track to stage the sport’s premier Classic, Nottingham closed the entry to the £100,000-to-the-winner showpiece on Monday and the track was delighted with the overall response and number of entries received.

 

“We received 212, which is around what we expected judged on the interest received in trials and trial stakes here,” he said. “Owners and trainers enjoy racing their greyhounds at Nottingham as our major competitions have shown over a number of years.

 

“We regularly receive a top-class entry for the Eclipse and it’s great to see last year’s winner Dorotas Wildcat and the runner-up Droopys Verve amongst the entry again – the Wildcat being the defending Derby champion of course.”

 

Nottingham reports good interest in advanced tickets for all rounds of the Greyhound Derby, which is jointly sponsored by Star Sports, ARC and Local Parking Security (LPS), and have been particularly active on social media.

 

“It’s vitally important for those in the industry, who want to know all the racing information such as trial times and trap draws etc, but also for those who want to know more about greyhound racing and how they can enjoy the Derby here at Nottingham.”

 

Fellow Nottingham director Rachel Corden has made no secret of one of the inspirations for staging the Derby being her late father Terry, the former Nottingham promoter and a man devoted to the sport as track operator and leading owner.

 

Terry Corden was a man respected on both sides of the Irish Sea and would have been delighted to see the huge response to this year’s Derby from Irish-based owners and trainers with 42 entries from the Emerald Isle.

 

These include entries from a previous English Derby winner in Paul Hennessy, who won the competition’s last running at Wimbledon with Jaytee Jet in 2016, while Pat Buckley has entered his recent Scottish Derby winner Braveheart Bobby.

 

It means this year’s entry includes the winners of the English, Irish and Scottish Derbys given Braveheart Bobby is joined by the Kevin Hutton-trained Dorotas Wildcat, last year’s champion at Towcester, and Mark Robinson’s Ballyanne Sim – the Shelbourne hero.

 

All three go into the hat for the trap draw on Friday at 1pm.  

 

Star Sports, ARC and LPS Greyhound Derby dates:-

 

First round: Friday, May 25 & Saturday, May 26

Second round: Friday, May 31 & Saturday, June 1

Third round: Friday, June 7

Quarter-finals: Saturday, June 15

Semi-finals: Saturday, June 22

Final: Saturday, June 29

 

Further info: www.nottinghamdogs.com