Opening Derby skirmishes leave plenty to ponder at Towcester

THE 2026 Star Sports & Orchestrate English Greyhound Derby began with 28 first round heats last weekend and also began with a bang as the Liam Dowling-trained Ballymac Duffle lowered Towcester's 500m track record to 28.37sec in the last heat of the opening night.

However, it was not all plain sailing for the formidable Irish squad with Dowling's Ballymac Setanta and Graham Holland's Bockos Diamond amongst the early casualties, while Holland subsequently withdrew Cheap Sandwiches after his first round defeat.

Jonathan Kay from sisracing.tv and leading Irish commentator Ian Fortune will keep tabs on each country's progress over the coming weeks.

In episode two, both found greyhounds to like from either side of the Irish Sea.