Greyhounds: Billingham-Hine looking to do good with Do Gooder at Monmore Open
Kim Billingham-Hine prospect Do Gooder looks to get a big victory under his belt as Monmore hosts its first set of Open races this year.
With Monmore’s first Category One competition of 2025, the Ladbrokes Winter Derby on the horizon, trainers from across the country are taking their dogs to Monmore tonight in a bid to get them in the groove.
Billingham-Hine’s Do Gooder runs in the Ladbrokes.com 480 Maiden (6.48pm) and has been highlighted as a greyhound to keep an eye out for this year by industry experts.
He made the English Puppy Derby final at Towcester in November and had some strong showings in Open races at Nottingham as well.
Do Gooder goes from trap five and won his last start at Monmore, albeit that was an A3 graded race back on October 24.
Tonight also sees two heats take place in the Category Three Ladbrokes.com 480 competition – three qualifying from each heat for next week’s final.
Having made the National Sprint Final at Nottingham at the back end of 2024, Richie Taberner’s Aero Pattika steps back up to the four-bend trip and competes alongside kennelmate Amazing Hulk in the first heat (7.06pm).
Arthur Crumpet (Patrick Godfrey, Swindon) has impressed previously at Monmore, though, while Nathan Hunt pup Kohinoor Spinner could be in for a bright future.
Another new Hunt recruit, wide runner Clona Stand is worth a look in heat two (7.56pm) although widely respected trainer Belinda Green (Hove) has both Aghaburren Milly and Miami Sapphire in the race.
Pat Doocey’s Hilton Wolf, however, is the one with by far the most experience at Monmore which could stand him in good stead.
William Russell railer Magical Bertie steps up to the six-bend trip for the Ladbrokes.com 630 (8.13pm) having won twice over 500m at Nottingham before.
Arguably the strongest Open race of the evening is the last one, the Ladbrokes.com 264 sprint at 8.47pm.
Both Alien Bolt (Taberner) and Newinn Souly (Billingham-Hine) were involved in the aforementioned National Sprint final while Russell’s Magical Bluebear is a former Category One winner, having claimed the Kent Silver Salver at Central Park last summer.
Perhaps an even better pick than all of those, though, is Green’s Bombout Bullet who had the quickest sprint time of any dog at Monmore in 2024 – a flying 15.15secs last February.
