Wolfe and Ballydoyle Valor booked their places in next week’s showpiece Star Sports & ARC Greyhound Derby Final with brilliant performances in some atrocious weather conditions.

The opening semi final saw Ballydoyle Valor chase home the unbeaten Southwood Jet to claim his place. Southwood Jet showed his customary early pace to lead into the opening turns with Valor, having had trouble at the turn, finding himself in 4th spot. Chasing along the far side he started to make up lost ground and, running the third and fourth turns superbly, he grabbed second spot behind the worthy winner. In monsoon like conditions, it was a remarkable run, eventually going down by a length and a half in 29.97.

Wolfe, led home an Irish 1-2 in the second semi final, overcoming what looked like a difficult trap draw on paper. Breaking smartly he led the inside runners to follow Smurfs Machine into the opening bend. Showing his top gears down the far side he drew alongside the early leader at the third bend before staying on strongly in more wet, boggy, conditions to win by two and a quarter lengths in 29.96. An ultra professional performance from the near veteran runner.

Speaking earlier in the week, Graham said “We are just happy to be there. It is a big commitment bringing a team of dogs over for the Derby and there is always a chance that you won’t even get a finalist. We had never bothered until Clares Rocket came along. Then last year we had Clonbrien Prince and of course he drew trap six in the final. I am quite happy with the draw for this final. I don’t think it would have made much of a difference which way around our two were drawn. They are both middle to rails”

Both dogs deserve their places in the prestigious Final, and both are wonderful to have in the team at Riverside Kennels: “At home, Wolfe is slightly shy around people he doesn’t know, but otherwise still behaves like a big silly puppy. We’ve often said he is a lamb off the track and only becomes The Wolfe when he sets foot on it.”

Speaking of Valor, “As a young dog I had seen him run and knew he had great pace, then Timmy saw him for sale on the internet. I recommended him to the lads and he has never let us down. He just continued to improve and they have had such enjoyment from him. Valor has spent all his career in big finals, he only missed the final of last year’s Irish Derby by a short head. He is an absolute battler and never knows when he is beaten. He will go through any gap no matter how tight it is; he has a heart as big as himself. He is a lovely greyhound at home too. If you aren’t paying him enough attention he has a habit of nudging your leg with his paw as if to say ‘what about me?’.”

With runners both side of the Irish Sea in recent week’s it has meant that Nicky has been away from home since before the opening round: “I think Nicky has done a superb job. It might sound like a cliche saying that we are a team, but we really are. We couldn’t have managed this without Nicky being prepared to live away from home for the last month. Our three kids have birthdays in October and for the first time ever, Nicky wasn’t there for them.

“We also owe a huge debt to Dave Firmager and family. They could not have been more hospitable hosts, and once again, without them, we wouldn’t be there on Saturday. Finally, I have to mention Ben and Star Sports. It would have been so easy for them to back out of the sponsorship because of Covid, but they didn’t. It is really appreciated by everyone.”

Joining Wolfe and Ballydoyle Valor on the Final card will be Riverside Honey and Lenson Blinder. Both ran well last week but Blinder can count himself extremely unfortunately having been in the lead before being distracted at the final turn. Honey is contesting the Star Sports Dorando Marathon whilst Blinder lines up in the Star Sports The Gentleman’s Bookmaker Seniors Trophy.