Hutton sitting pretty in race for greyhound glory at Monmore Green

It was a night to remember for highly-respected greyhound trainer Kevin Hutton as he had four winners to extend his lead in the Monmore Open Championship.

The new competition - which sees points awarded for every Open race on Thursdays at the Wolverhampton track until June 11th - is now four weeks old, and Hutton is sitting pretty thanks in no small part to impressive wins from Venetian Jojo, Signet Nayla, Ollie The Ox and Venetian Will this week.

Hutton, who previously had a successful spell contracted at Monmore but now has his graded runners at Towcester, sits top of the championship away league on 152 points - 48 of those amassed this past Thursday night.

Kim Billingham-Hine, meanwhile, extended her lead at the top of the home league having had Mon Amis and Catchem Boyo run out victorious, while a fair few second and third-place finishes for other greyhounds from the kennel leave her on 229 points.

The top handlers in both leagues at the end of the 10-week event will be awarded £2,500 in prize money, while second will get £1,000 and third £500.

Three Monmore trainers are quite far ahead in the home league and appear to be battling it out for the prize money, with Nathan Hunt second on 163 points and Richie Taberner third on 136.

Brian Thompson, though, put in a reminder of the talent within his team as Westway Ruby took the first race of the night in convincing fashion before Paradise Sky similarly showed early pace and got the job done well to take the last. Thompson is fourth in the home league on 60 points.

Monmore's Patrick Curtin had Longacres Danny take a 264 Maiden in a handy 15.38secs before Hutton won three races on the spin with Venetian Jojo, Signet Nayla and Ollie The Ox.

Mark Wallis (unattached) is joint second in the away league - tied with Rachel Hill (Oxford) - and had Newinn Cloud and Armagh Daithi record emphatic victories.

Armagh Daithi, a former Gold Cup finalist at Monmore, stormed around the 480m trip in 27.97secs to win the Category Three Ladbrokes.com 480 Final.

The other Category Three final was a 210m sprint won by Billingham-Hine's Catchem Boyo in 12.52secs - just shy of the 12.34secs track record held by the now-retired Crossfield Larry.

Chris Fereday got his first win in the home league before the end of the night as Wanfourtoeknee flew home over two bends.