Monday evening through to the early hours of Tuesday morning saw the arrival of our Droopys Flytline x Moments of Magic litter. Thankfully all went very well and Alice is once again being a super mum. We don’t tend to get many dogs born at Burford but we were lucky enough this time to have 5 dogs and 2 bitches. That’s as many dogs as we’ve had from our last four litters combined!

The final pup from the first litter of Moments of Magic arrived back at the kennels after being beautifully reared and schooled by Claire Conley. Doc Susie is a fine looking bitch owned by Mark Wightman and we’re looking forward to starting her off in the coming weeks.

We had a busy day on the gallop on Wednesday with 20 dogs going through their paces. Droopys Berries and Jazzy Mia are both progressing well following their shoulder fractures and should be back in action soon. Rioja Oisin is also in good form and has enjoyed a nice rest following his narrow defeat in the Pall Mall final. He’ll trial at Dunstall Park on Thursday as we begin his buildup to a defence of his Scurry title.

The brilliant Magical Luka extended his unbeaten record when leading all the way in his semi-final of the Romford Puppy Cup on Friday evening. Once again he flashed from the boxes and ran right away to win by 7 lengths in 23.43. He’s such a special greyhound and took his race well. We’re all looking forward to next week’s final and are keeping everything crossed for more good break before he heads back home.

Union Rebel gave us a double on the night as he led all the way in the 400m standard open to win by 1/2 a length in 23.91 and will head back again next week.

Zinedine Zedog might only be a little over 23.5kg but she’s all heart and she ran another game race at Oxford on Friday evening to lead all the way to win her A1 by 1 1/2 lengths in a personal best 26.76.

Lively Lulu and Dog Dog were out of luck in their A1 after finding trouble and will have a short break before returning to action. Rebel Alaska is a very promising puppy and he delighted us with his 26.90 effort despite stumbling from the boxes. He showed a good attitude and big pace from the 2nd bend to beat Droopys Creative (27.24) and Pom Pom (27.29).

Silvertown Blues has returned from season in great order and she posted a personal best 26.99 in her solo trial. She’s very lightly raced so we’re hopeful there’s still more to come. Untold Ripple is also coming forward all the time and she moved nicely to post 15.02 in her sprint trial.

Unfortunately, Signet Nayla didn’t make it through to the Produce Stakes final as she was knocked out at the semi-final stage on Saturday afternoon at Swindon. She returned in good shape and will have one more race at Swindon before heading to Dunstall Park.

Mark Wightman’s brilliant Start The Engine made it 12 wins from his 14 races as once again he flew the lids to lead all the way in the standard open at Oxford on Saturday evening. He produced a very smart 3.82 sectional on his way to a 26.44 win. Hopefully the move to Sunday afternoon open racing will help the entries a bit and we can get back to enjoying some better racing at Oxford. Highfield Andy bounced back to form in great fashion as he led home a kennel 1-2-3 in the A1. He ran a great first bend to take the lead and ran on strongly to win by nearly 7 lengths in 26.69.
Senahel Bingo also returned to form when taking his A1 by just over 7 lengths in 26.75.

Baroness Velvet has had a great start to her racing career and despite being just a Feb 24 baby, she won her semi-final of the all aged Empress Stakes by just over a length in 29.24. She showed lovely early pace after a slow start and ran a terrific first to bends to take the lead. She stays well and always looked the likely winner. We’ve a bit of time to find in the final but have a lovely draw in one so we’re hopeful of another good run.

Antigua Kestrel ran on well to finish 2nd behind the brilliant Droopys Plunge in the standard open while Venetian Mick and Kranky Drake both got plenty of trouble in behind