March On Freddie justified favouritism when winning the Jenningsbet Puppy Classic in front of a packed grandstand at Nottingham Stadium to start National Greyhound Week.
David Mullins’ September ’22 pup missed the break but paced up well to the first turn to win the £12,500 final by over 10 lengths in 29.28 seconds for owner George Watson.
The victory marked George’s first Category One success as an owner and happened exactly a week after March On Freddie broke Nottingham’s 500m track record. Chris Fereday’s No Better Feelin finished second while Kevin Hutton’s Rioja Bungle was a further two lengths behind in third.
For George, the victory was a sweet one – and meant so much he lost his voice midway through the race while March On Freddie stretched clear down the back straight.
“He didn’t quite trap, but he paced-up really nicely to make the first bend in front,” said George. “I lost my voice a bit, but this win means the world and I’m so pleased for David (Mullins, trainer) and the team.
“I’ve had Category One finalists before, but they’ve never started the race as favourite so there was some added pressure.
“He’s still a puppy and clearly loves Nottingham. We’ll enjoy the moment for now, but looking ahead there’s the Eclipse in November or we might consider the Irish Derby – they’re options for us.”
March On Freddie’s win wasn’t the only top grade action on the night.
Unanimouspanther trained by Pat Buckley in Ireland made the trip worthwhile when beating Barntick Bear to the line in the 72nd running of the Jenningsbet Select Stakes, also worth £12,500.
Premier Greyhound Racing Puppy Derby champion Untold Dollar finished third with defending Premier Greyhound Racing Eclipse winner Newinn Syd fourth. Links Maverick and Romeo Command finished fifth and sixth respectively.
Ciaran O’Sullivan, owner of Unanimouspanther, said: “Once he came off the second bend in front, we knew he’d be very tough to catch.
“Last week’s trial really helped him, it’s a long journey but it was worth it. The Select Stakes is always a high-quality field, and the result made that journey home a bit sweeter.”
Meanwhile Nottingham trainer Jill Llewellin enjoyed a treble with Vale Bluebell winning the £2,000 Jenningsbet Select Stayers’ Trophy while Wolf Moon won the Jenningsbet Stayers’ Trophy final. There was graded success for Jill too with De Hustler who won the Jenningsbet Trophy.
Elsewhere Jason Gray and Sarah Spillane were also in the winners’ enclosure with Mickys Legacy and Links Weapon who scooped the Jenningsbet Maiden Dash Trophy and Jenningsbet Standard Trophy respectively.
There was also local success for Colin Wilton who won the Jenningsbet Invitation Trophy with Sambar Kian and Semi Final One of the Jenningsbet.com Sprint Trophy with Tex Brit.
David Evans, General Manager at Nottingham Stadium, added: “A huge thank you to our sponsors Jenningsbet for their support of our bank holiday fixture.
“We broke our attendance record for this year with the team’s help and welcomed hundreds of first-time racegoers which was great to see. Congratulations to all our winners, particularly March On Freddie and Unanimouspanther who won our two feature races.”
