History on the line with prospect of back-to-back Gold Cup titles at Monmore

Headford Dane could become the first greyhound ever to win back-to-back Ladbrokes Gold Cup titles on a big Saturday night of racing at Monmore Green.

One of the most anticipated dates in the calendar at Monmore also sees the long-running Wolverhampton circuit host the Summer Stayers Classic showpiece, with each event worth £10,000 to the winner.

Well-fancied for Gold Cup (480m) glory tonight is Headford Dane, trained by Maxine Locke and owned by the JR Racing Syndicate, having looked back to his best when winning in the semi-finals last weekend in a handy time of 27.90secs.

Success this evening for the three-year-old dog would also seal a third Category One triumph at Monmore having clinched the Puppy Derby crown in March 2025.

The Summer Stayers Classic (630m), meanwhile, will definitely have a new champion after last year’s victor, Vhagar (Mark Wallis and the MWD Partnership) narrowly missed out on making this evening’s final having finished third in her semi-final.

One Monmore-based trainer goes for glory across the two finals with Nathan Hunt’s Scooby Diamond starting from Trap Three in the Gold Cup final. If successful, Scooby Diamond would be the first ‘home’ winner of the competition in more than 20 years.

Another statistic worth knowing is that if either Scooby Diamond or Slingshot Poppy win the Gold Cup tonight, they will be the first bitch to be Gold Cup champion since Nick Savva’s Westmead Chick in 1995.

Newcastle handler James Fenwick could seal an amazing double, too, with Woltemade and Zenith Pasha very much in with a shout of winning the Gold Cup and Summer Stayers Classic respectively. Kelly Wilton (Nottingham) also has Grouchos Gregor and Fortanach Col in each final.

Tony Williamson, Monmore racing manager, said: “This is one of our favourite times of the year, and the Gold Cup and Summer Stayers Classic finals are full of quality. Headford Dane, of course, is going for back-to-back successes in the Gold Cup but all the finalists are there on merit and all have a realistic chance of winning.

“It is a similar story in the Summer Stayers. Fortanach Col has won twice on the way to final, but many will have their eyes on Zenith Pasha after a sublime showing last weekend. It will be an honour to help present the trophies to this year’s champions. May the best greyhounds win.”

Gold Cup: T1 Headford Dane, T2 Grouchos Gregor, T3 Scooby Diamond, T4 Slingshot Poppy, T5 Woltemade, T6 Headford CianSummer Stayers: T1 Droopys Bookem, T2 Betgoodwin Tutts, T3 Zenith Pasha, T4 Tooreen Rose, T5 Fortanach Col, T6 Droopys Deploy