Brian Thompson hoping to find a new star

It will be a full card of graded races at the Wolverhampton track this evening following the climax of top-class Open competition, the £20,000 Premier Greyhound Racing Puppy Derby last weekend.

For Thompson, although he has entered several opens at both Monmore and Perry Barr this year, the next few weeks offer the chance to have some successful Saturdays.

He has six runners tonight and said: “It’s been a bit difficult these last few months as we’ve had a lot of Opens on at Monmore.

“But now they’ve stopped for a few weeks, things are looking up again, and hopefully we can push on a bit more. Our graded runners can get more runs on Saturdays now, so hopefully all goes well, and we have some success.”

Thompson had a victor to smile about on Thursday night as Vixons Flyer clocked a career-best actual time of 28.41secs in an impressive A2 outing. The August 2020 dog is one of several steady performers in the graded ranks for Thompson, who is also aiming to bring through an Open-winning greyhound soon – and bring in the greater prize money that comes with it.

Vixons Angel was the last Open winner for Thompson at the back end of last year.

“We’ve got a lot of good dogs, some very nice dogs, but nothing at this moment that’s really special,” he said. “That breakout dog is what every trainer is looking for.

“We all try our best, and there are a lot of good trainers here at Monmore. You can’t deny that. It always seems to move around – one trainer tends to have that dog come through, and then it’s someone else. So, hopefully, we’re next in the queue.”

Thompson added: “We’ve got a few A1 dogs. We’ve had some very good dogs in the past and still have some now, but just not one who’s that little bit special right now.

“We don’t mean special in terms of winning all over the country, but special in terms of entering Open races or top A1s at Monmore and thinking we’ve got a real chance.

“I’m sure it will happen for us down the line.”