The Greyhound Derby is the race everyone, even those with only a passing interest in greyhound racing, has wanted to win since the sport's embryonic days in the 1920s.
 From the response to the very first meeting in Britain at Belle Vue on July 24, 1926, it was clear that greyhound racing was going to need a big race - perhaps a Derby - to enhance its identity more than anything else and the first Derby took place in 1927.
London's White City, built for the 1908 Olympics, had been bought in 1926 by the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) and was seen as the perfect venue. Entry Badge, who at 1-4 was the shortest priced winner ever, won the inaugural running - worth £1,000 - and over 500 yards.
The winner's purse was raised to £1,500 the following year and the distance was increased to 525 yards (480 metres). Boher Ash won the Final and in doing so became the first and so far only Scottish-trained success in the race.
Mick The Miller was the first star of the competition. The Mick Horan-trained dog reached the 1929 final unbeaten and was the 4-7 favourite. More than 40,000 packed into White City for the decider but they were initially disappointed when Palatinus brought the mighty Mick's sequence to an end. However, the race was declared void and Mick The Miller won the re-run by three lengths.
Sold for a record £2,000 after his 1929 victory, Mick struck again 12 months later, this time in a care of Wimbledon trainer Sidney Orton. In 1931 Mick The Miller "won" his third consecutive Derby but the race was declared void because Ryland R had fought and this time Mick could only finish fourth behind Seldom Led in the re-run.
The sport's popularity in general and that of the Derby in particular was on an upward spiral and in no small part due to the exploits of Mick The Miller who was such a national hero, that he played the lead role in the 1935 movie Wild Boy.
In those days crowds of 70,000 to 80,000 at Derby finals were common. In fact, 88,700 crammed into White City in 1935 to watch Greta Rena become the first bitch to win the premier classic.
The 1948 winner, Priceless Border, owned by 10-year-old Desmond Kane, instigated what was to prove the Derby training performance of all time when scoring for Wembley trainer Leslie Reynolds. The dapper Reynolds proceeded to steer four more - Narrogar Ann (1949), Ballylanigan Tanist (1951), Endless Gossip (1952) and Pauls Fun (1954) - to success in the greatest greyhound competition of them all.
The fifties ended with two of the finest Derby winners of all time, Pigalle Wonder (1958) and Mile Bush Pride (1959). London nightclub entrepreneur Al Burnett owned Pigalle Wonder, who, during a wonderful career, established seven track records and secured the Derby by almost three lengths from Nathen Lad in 28.65sec.
Mile Bush Pride reached the 1958 decider but was found to be lame afterwards. He bounced back 12 months later to win the 1959 final by a neck and a head from Snub Nose and Crazy Parachute in 28.76sec. Owned by shipping magnate Noel Purvis and trained by Jack Harvey, Mile Bush Pride became one of the most prolific dogs in the sport when completing the Triple Crown - the English, Scottish and Welsh Derbys - and the Cesarewitch and Pall Mall.
There were some great performances during the sixties but the one episode that stands out is the controversy surrounding the success of Camira Flash in 1968.
The situation ignited at the semi-final stage when the dog, owned by the Duke of Edinburgh and trained by Randy Singleton, managed only fourth in the second semi and failed to make the decider. The White City stewards announced they had noticed Not Flashing fighting during the race and they disqualified the Irish runner. Camira Flash was promoted to third and subsequently a place in the Final. The public felt the stewards had disqualified Not Flashing purely to allow the promotion of the Duke's dog and when Camira Flash won the final certain elements in the White City crowd vented their anger.
The seventies was a glorious decade, the feature of which was the Derby double by Patricias Hope, who in 1972 completed the Triple Crown by also landing the Scottish and Welsh Derbys. Animal food company Spillers became the first sponsors of the Derby in 1973 and the first prize was boosted from £11,000 to £12,500.
 The late Pat Mullins, the husband of Linda, was one of the most popular trainers on the open race circuit and I think it is fair to say that the victory of his Lacca Champion went down well with everybody. The little brindle completed an unbeaten run through the event and defeated Backdeed Man by a length and three quarters in 29.42sec in the final. Lacca Champion returned the following year and almost won again. But he had to be content with second place behind Geoff DeMulder's smashing bitch Sarahs Bunny.
The whole face of the Derby was to change in the eighties, which started with an incredible win for Irish raider Indian Joe. Prize money received a massive hike, White City, the home of the Derby was to close and Ger McKenna, the Irish trainer whose tilts at the premier classic were the stuff of legend, would finally find his Holy Grail.
To mark its 50th birthday, the prize money for the 1980 Derby was increased by £20,000 to £35,000. Indian Joe, a strikingly leggy son of Brave Bran, had been brought over from Ireland for the event by Limerick trainer John Hayes. While in Britain, Indian Joe caught the eye of Belfast bookmaker Alfie McClean and his partner Barney Eastwood. The pair were to strike a deal to buy Indian Joe and a figure, reputed to be in or around £35,000, was agreed. Also the subject of a massive gamble, it all looked likely to go astray as Indian Joe limped off the track after the semi-finals. But after a week of ultrasound treatment he was back to lead throughout and take a stirring decider by a length from the luckless Hurry On Bran in 29.68sec.
Ger McKenna had described the Derby as his religion and in 1981 the man from Borrisokane, County Tipperary, got the chance to worship at the altar when Parkdown Jet won for him. In 1984 Whisper Wishes created history when winning the last Derby at White City. He defeated Ger McKenna's Morans Beef in the final and a few months later the track was closed when Stock Conversion exercised its right to purchase the stadium from GRA.
The Premier Classic was re-housed at Wimbledon and the Philip Rees trained Pagan Swallow was the shock 9-1 winner of the first Plough Lane Final. Although the standard trip at Plough Lane is 460 metres, a second winning line further down the straight was installed and the trip was increased to 480 metres. Lartigue Note gave Ger McKenna his second Derby victory in 1989 and sparked the first of many track invasions of celebrating Irish fans.
Druids Johno almost gave The Royal Family its second Derby winner in 1990. The dog, owned by HRH Prince Edward was 4-7 favourite for the final but failed to match the sizzling speed shown by Slippy Blue, who landed something of a gamble for trainer Ken Linzell and connections.
Tony Meek had a mid-nineties double when Ringa Hustle scored in 1993 and the incredible Moral Standards defied all the judges when proving that a dog could come from behind six times and win the classic in 1994.
 Some Picture still talked about in revered tones today, and credited by Derby king Charlie Lister as both the fastest and best dog he ever trained was the 1997 victor. His final win culminated in a derby record time and forever wrote him into the history books with a final time that still stands unbroken ten years later. The Steve Spiteri owned black dog was denied the triple crown by Toms The Best who cemented his reputation by winning the Plough Lane crown in 1998. Standing at stud today he has further franked his physical prowess by becoming one of the most successful sires of recent years.
In 1999, Chart King gave owner and trainer brothers Ralph and Karl Hewitt a night they will never forget when traveling over from Northern Ireland for every round and plundering the most coveted Silverware in the sport.
Whilst the sport seemed to suffer a little when the spotlight turned to football, rugby and other high profile sports in the late eighties and early nineties, by some divine force the turn of the new Millennium brought with it another 'Star' for greyhound racing, a brindle dog that captured the imagination called Rapid Ranger. His dual success's in 2000 and again in 2001 win not only gave Charlie Lister, the trainer of Some Picture, his second and third Derby's but also gave owner Ray White his biggest and most deserved thrill of a lifetime.
Despite being retired to stud after his second win, Rapid Ranger seemed to miss his racing, and it was never demonstrated better than when the greyhound was asked to lead the parade of Finalists for the Blue Riband at Hall Green in 2002. He received a standing ovation at the Midlands track but it was his obvious disappointment at being led away from the traps as the field were led towards the start that convinced anybody who saw it that here was a greyhound who really wanted to race.
Sportingly, Ray White brought Rapid Ranger out of retirement for a third Derby attempt. But fate was against the record-breaking feat, when Rapid Ranger was eliminated in the third round.
Living up to its history for shocks though, the 2002 Derby winner was a greyhound who had started the competition as a 500/1 chance, never won a single heat throughout the qualifying rounds and subsequently was sent off as the 16/1 outsider of the final six. No one told Allen Gift he couldn't win though and despite the fact that his 29.06 time was slowest recorded since the race moved to Wimbledon, he provided Hove handler Claude Gardner with the biggest night of his life.
Shocks abound in this competition, and 2003 was to provide another. Derby King Charlie Lister provided no less than 50% of the final line up. His main contender was undoubtedly the 4/7 favourite Top Savings, whilst he also ran Larkhill Bullet and the Blue Riband winner Farloe Verdict in trap one. Since its move to Plough Lane, no bitch and no trap one had ever won the Derby, and to some degree this hoodoo still remains.
For Farloe Verdict was gallant in defeat behind another 16/1 shocker Droopys Hewitt, trained by rookie handler Andrew Iaonnou. Unfortunately, and unknown to anybody until 5 days after the Final, Droopys Hewitt had given a positive sample in a routine testing procedure during the Quarter-Finals. Ultimately, he was disqualified and Farloe Verdict became the first Queen of Wimbledon. After an eight month lay off, she came back to win a Derby in her own right, when romping away with the Scottish Derby at Shawfield in April 2004. For the 2004 tilt she made it through to the quarter final stage before being knocked-out in a heat that included two of the finalists and subsequent winner Droopys Scholes.
The latter stages of the 2004 Greyhound Derby provided both tragedy and drama. In the semi-finals, the exhilarating Premier Fantasy shattered a hock at the first bend and was subsequently retired to stud, and so it was that Droopys Scholes, the sole Irish runner remaining in the first £100,000 Final pulled off a sensational victory to take the crown back to the Emerald Isle.
Amidst scenes more reminiscent of an Irish winner at the Cheltenham Festival, the huge contingent associated with Ian Reilly’s dog invaded the winners’ rostrum before joint owners Brian Peters and Mrs Kate Carroll triumphantly lifted the historic trophy aloft.
Part owner and sports promoter Brian Reilly commented; “This night is right up there with some of the best I have ever had. I’ve managed World Title Fights, and Agassi when he won at Wimbledon, but they all take a bit longer than 28 seconds, so this has pumped me up a bit. To win this has been one of the most exhilarating nights of my life.”
The 2005 renewal proved no less spectacular for fans, as the final make up was three Anglo trained runners and three from across the Irish Sea.
Sent off the 5/4 favourite, Westmead Hawk had been the catalyst required to bring veteran trainer Nick Savva out of retirement in order to train the greyhound for his lifelong friend Bob Morton.
 Despite being drawn in the ‘coffin box’ the son of Sonic Flight displayed all the intelligence he had in earlier rounds of the competition to sit behind the early paced trio of Ningbo Jack (T2), Blue Majestic (T3) and Mineola Farloe (T5) as those three middle seeds came together at the first bend. Despite having the bogey draw of trap one, the 33-1 long-shot Blonde Mac scooted clear around the inside with Westmead Hawk waiting for the opportunity to pounce. Displaying all the extraordinary track craft and middle pace that had elevated him to favourite in the earlier rounds, ‘The Hawk’ picked up the leader off the final bend to win by 1 3/4.
For owner Bob Morton it was third time lucky after narrow defeats with Special Account and Sonic Flight and he later described the feeling as being ‘on top of the world’.
Already established as one of the modern greats following his 2005 Greyhound Derby success, Westmead Hawk had looked even better during his 2006 campaign, recording wins in all rounds up to the semi-finals.
Starting as the well backed 4/5 favourite in his semi-final, the Hawk, as usual, broke slowly, and after being crowded at the first bend, found himself in last place as the field hurtled down the back straight. Irish ace Mineola Farloe was setting a scorching gallop and going the penultimate bend it seemed that third, maybe second place was the best Westmead Hawk could achieve. Even as the runners turned into the home straight, victory seemed impossible.
But we are talking about Westmead Hawk, and for him the impossible was merely a challenge. Sighting the line ahead and Mineola Farloe in his path, the Hawk lengthened his stride and to the amazement of the Wimbledon crowd and thousands watching on TV his finishing spurt saw him snatch victory in the final stride, literally on the line.
What a performance, what drama, what a dog!
Westmead Hawk rewarded his legions of adoring fans with another breathtaking performance in the final of the 2006 Greyhound Derby. Already perceived to be the greatest greyhound the world has ever seen "The Hawk" plundered the £100,000 first prize to take his career purse to over £250,000 and in the process elevating him to the top of the all time prize money list. An unprecedented third crack at the Premier Classic, for which Blue Square make him a 20/1 shot, is now a distinct possibility for this iconic canine superstar.
Nothing can be taken away from any of the other greyhounds in what was one of the best Derby Final's ever. Seamus Graham's Mineola Farloe and Graham Calvert's Amarillo Slim both ran fine races and the times they recorded in defeat would have won all but two of the Derby Finals ever held at Wimbledon. Cleenas Lady and Clash Darby, two of the outsiders, both ran genuine races and did their connections proud but the Derby was all about Westmead Hawk who has recovered sufficiently well from his broken hock to lead connections to believe that a tilt at a third Derby might just be possible.
Westmead Lord defied a significant drift in the on-course market (7/2 to 6/1) to give owner Bob Morton and trainer Nick Savva an unprecedented third consecutive success in the Derby at Wimbledon on Saturday.
Westmead Lord, a half-brother to the incomporable Westmead Hawk - who, along with fellow double Derby winner, Rapid Ranger, received a great reception when paraded to the sound of Thin Lizzy's 'The Boys Are Back In Town' prior to the main event - gave Savva his fourth Derby victory since 1998, putting him on the same number of successes as 'Derby king' Charlie Lister.
Heavily backed in the ante-post market at many rates down from 125-1 with Blue Square, Westmead Lord was friendless on Saturday night, as the punters targeted on Savva's other runner, Dilemmas Flight, and the 6-4 favourite Loyal Honcho.
The June '05 home-bread, who had shown exceptional trapping ability, blinding early pace and superb bend-running when outclassing the opposition in a Derby trial stakes race on 29th May, went to the traps on final night, having lost his subsequent five races!
The punters may have lost faith, but neither Savva nor Morton did. Brilliantly prepared by his master handler, Westmead Lord produced his best-ever Wimbledon trapping performance - recording a sensational 4.79sec split - and proceeded to run the race of his life to post 28.47seconds, fully 30 spots faster than when impressing in May.
Loyal Honcho set off after Westmead Lord down the back-straight, but at no time did he ever really look like catching him. Although the stride of the leader was shortening close home, he held on to win by half a length, with Forest Scholes a neck further back in third.
Reproduced by kind permission of Mark Sullivan & William Hill
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