New greyhound championship is up and running at Monmore Green

£2,500 up for grabs for top trainers

Kim Billingham-Hine leads the way after the start of a new nine-week initiative designed to reward quality and consistency in Open races at Monmore Green.

There was a bumper bank holiday crowd at Monmore Green | Joe Edwards

placeholder image — There was a bumper bank holiday crowd at Monmore Green | Joe Edwards

The inaugural Monmore Open Championship launched on Thursday night and runs until June 11th, with leagues created for both home and away trainers.

A cool £2,500 will be awarded to the handlers who finish first in each league at the end of the series, and Billingham-Hine got off to a strong start.

Points are awarded in each race using the established Trainers’ Judgement Night format of 10 points for first place, seven for second place, five for third place, three for fourth place, two for fifth place and one for sixth place.

With seven races on Thursday having points on the line, Billingham-Hine amassed a healthy 60 thanks in no small part to victories for Bandit Paddy and Uphill Morsey.

She tops the Monmore league despite the fact Nathan Hunt (47 points) had three winners on the evening in Kilara Berb, Scooby Diamond and Gordon Bennett.

Kim Billingham-Hine's Bandit Paddy, pictured with kennelhand Rosie Holman and James Hine was among the winners on the Monmore Open Championship opening night | Joe Edwards

The away league features just two trainers for now but Monmore expect more visiting handlers to get involved over the coming weeks.

Rachel Hill (Oxford) and Greyhound Board of Great Britain champion trainer Mark Wallis (Unattached) both got a triumph under their belts.

Armagh Daithi, a previous Category One finalist at Monmore, blew the competition away to win over the standard 480m trip for Wallis.

Hill’s curiously named Fluff The Start then did anything but that when showing great pace to win a sprint affair later in the evening.

The Monmore Open Championship will continue next Thursday and a total of £8,000 has been allocated for the competition, with runners-up in each league getting £1,000 while third place will receive £500.

All open race results, minor and category three, count towards the championship tables.

It comes after a successful Easter Monday at Monmore saw the track attract its biggest crowd for the fixture since 2019, with more than 800 in attendance for the 12-race meeting.