King Memphis knocked 3 spots off Clona Duke’s Towcester track record today, posting a new best of 28.66 secs around the Towcester 500 in what Rab McNair described as ‘a great run’ in The Puppy Derby semi-final.
In a breath-taking show of early pace, raw power, and stamina, Liz McNair’s December 2021 son of Droopy’s Sydney, out of Queen Beyonce, left a field of classy pups in his wake as he stormed into next weeks final.
Rab McNair was keen to highlight the performance of his other qualifiers, two of whom are from the same litter at King Memphis.
“Capaldi ran a blinder as well [as Memphis] and the others ran well to qualify,” he told Greyhound Weekly.
King Capaldi did indeed run a blinder, showing plenty of early to turn ahead of Coolavanny Mercy and Capaldi’s kennelmate, Queen Dusty. Sadly, Queen Shakira (the fourth of the Droopy’s Sydney x Queen Beyonce Dec ’21 litter to make it to the semi-finals) missed the break and was badly impeded by Skywalker Pele who turned in early and failed to check his wing mirrors!
Capaldi made all, running the rails to win by 2 3/4 lengths at the line. Coolavanny maintained her advantage over Queen Dusty until the run-in where she began to be reeled in a little as ‘Dusty’ ran on well.
“This is Dusty’s 3rd final, which is some achievement,” enthused McNair. She is the youngest of the McNair string to make it to the final and will be the youngest in the race. ‘Dusty’ already has a great record in Category 1 puppy competitions. She finished 6th in the Coral Puppy Cup at Romford and 4th behind Long Fellow, in the Cowley Puppy Collar at Oxford.
In an update on Queen Shakira, McNair told Greyhound Weekly that “we checked over Shakira and she seems ok. Will keep an eye on her and check her over again in the morning. Fingers crossed, she will be fine.”