KING SHEERAN moved himself in contention to succeed the kennel’s King Turbo as British Bred Greyhound of the Year as he landed a second major title in the BGBF British Bred Derby at a very wet Sheffield on Tuesday.

Already winner of the Produce Stakes and a Derby semi-finalist, King Sheeran also moved himself into GBGB Greyhound of the Year reckoning with the Coral Olympic, starting at Hove on Saturday, now very much on the agenda.

Trained by Liz McNair and owned and bred by Brendan Keogh and the KSS Syndicate, King Sheeran lined up as one of three finalists for connections – all brothers from a hugely talented Feb 2017 batch by Eden The Kid and Skate On.

However it was the Martin Cutler-trained, Neil Russell-bred and owned Russelena Bowwow who broke first, although was soon joined by the eventual winner who hit the front before the first and and was away. Crossing the line four and a half lengths clear of Russelena Bowwow, King Sheeran posted 29.11sec (-50), with third place going to another local in the John Sharp-owned, bred and trained Sharpys Pluto, ahead of King Lennon.

Ran McNair said “Sheeran was probably fresher than Lennon and Dylan and, in tough conditions, that probably showed, but all are good and will head for Hove on Saturday after which they’ll have a rest given they’ve been busy at Romford, too. Given Sheeran’s injury – remember he was off with track for seven months – we kept him to the one competition and he’s just got stronger and stronger. This is his second Cat One and a lot of the credit must go to Liz. When Liz took him to the vet after the injury, she was just thinking what a good pet Sheeran would make, but he’s come back really well, ran well in the Derby and then won the Produce at Swindon. He’s fantastic.”

Winning owner Brendan Keogh, enjoying a first visit at Sheffield on Tuesday, came away suitably impressed and delighted to have claimed the British-bred showpiece – the £7,500 first prize heading back to the Ashford, Kent, base. “I thought he was unlucky not to make the Derby final, so when you think how much time he missed, that was some effort,” he said. “We always knew he was a good dog when he won the Trafalgar Cup at Monmore but the injury looked to have cost him. Thankfully he’s come back well and it makes it that much more special to have bred them and watch them grow. I’ve always liked Sheeran. He probably has better early pace than the other two and that helped him get clear tonight.”

Liz Mort, chair of the British Greyhound Breeders Forum (BGBF), said: “That was a great effort from King Sheeran – and well done to Liz and Rab, Brendan, Simon (Senyk) and the rest of the KSS Syndicate. They have consistently produced top-class British-bred greyhounds for many years now and this was another top-class effort to have three runners in the final, following on from their success in the Produce. They also had finalists in the British Breeders Stakes at Nottingham which included Sheeran himself, so it’s been another really good year for Brendan and the team and I’m sure they’ll be pitching for all the major British-bred prizes next year. They have great plans still and I was delighted to hear that King Turbo is now at Ron Grey’s for upcoming stud duties. Ron is delighted with Turbo, says he has a great temperament and is a real boost for British breeding. Thanks therefore must go to Brendan for keeping these top stud dogs, like King Elvis and King Turbo, on these shores. It’s great that we have such talent standing here accessible to British breeders.”

Liz added, “We had the annual AGM of the British Greyhound Breeders Forum before racing and it was a very productive meeting. We talked about how this year’s events had gone and how things can improved even more in 2020. It’s about providing as many opportunities for British-bred dogs as possible. We are indebted to the British Greyhound Racing Fund for their continued support and have as good a spread of events across the tracks now as we’ve ever had. Thanks go to Sheffield for staging the British Bred Derby. This competition is very much our end-of-season showpiece and, with all the major developments here, we are delighted to be hosted by them. We were all royally looked after.”