Unbeaten Benny fetches £12,200 after setting Oxford trial standard

RAPIDO BENNY, an impressive winner of his sole career start at Waterford earlier in the month, was the sale topper at Oxford’s Greyhound Trader October auction.

The May 2024 son of Dorotas Wildcat and Spooks Me was a wide-margin winner of his trial in a best-of-day 26.86sec (normal) for the 450m trip and was sold for £12,200 to an online bid. He is heading to Ricky Holloway.

With 44 greyhounds venturing over from Ireland to the Sandy Lane venue, it always looked set for an intriguing sales day with a number of greyhounds boasting classy form at home.

A double then followed for Peter Cronin and the litter, with Rapido Benny's litter-sister Rapido Louise making the second highest figure of the day at £8,000.

Sold to Paul Young, she trialled over 650m in a solo and clocked a time of 39.90sec which was noted by the racing office at Oxford as grading at S1 despite being only 17 months old.

Good Jasmine was another popular on the bench and she sold for £7,400 to Shaun Gresham. Recording 26.99sec, the January 2024 daughter of Serene Ace and Flaming Sahara showed good early gears in her trial.

The same trainer also paid £4,500 for Rapido Spy who won her trial in 27.12sec and comes from the Grangeview Ten x Chelms Ramona litter which produced the Romford sales topper Rapido Roisin.

Mystical Batman was perhaps the dog with the most eye-catching form going into the sales having qualified unraced at Limerick in 28.61sec. The October 2023 son of Grangeview Ten and Mystical Luna showed plenty of staying potential having passed his trial opponent around the final bend to win in 27.22sec and he subsequently fetched £6,000 to Julie Coney.

Diligently, although beaten, was another to make over £5K, selling for £5,100 to Richie Taberner. Recording a time of 27.25sec, the April 2024 son of Drumantine and Pennys Lauren was well thought of by his vendor and his previous 21.41sec Dundalk form clearly left the impression that he could have gone faster on another day.

The Droopys trio of Lara (27.33sec, £4,700), Cassia (27.57sec, £3,500) and Oblige (27.76sec, £3,300) also sold well, with Lara and Oblige being just August 2024 whelps.

In total, 41 of the 44 greyhounds sold (93%) for a total over £110,000 with James Corden of Greyhound Trader remarking: "I'm absolutely delighted with the sale which was our best-ever at Oxford.

"There were some good greyhounds on show, however there were still some bargains to be had too."