Beeswing out to sting rivals again

The three-year-old, trained by Brian Thompson, runs in the 12th and final race on tonight’s card, the Ladbrokes.com 264 Division One having tasted victory in each of her three previous Open appearances.

Her record for 2024 consists of a whopping 14 successes – eight in the graded ranks and six in Opens – and given some greyhounds can be purchased for tens of thousands of pounds these days, Knock Beeswing’s story goes to show there are still bargains to be had for owners in the sport.

“I got her for £400 when (former Monmore trainer) Jane Meek retired, and Bee’s the first dog I’ve owned outright,” said Ashton.

“When I originally bought her, she was in D3, pushing D2, and we were thinking she’d just be a nice little sprinter at that sort of level.

“This year, though, she’s really shown her true potential. She’s always in the top three more or less, and in 2024, she’s won 14 races – eight graded wins and six Opens. Her graded race record is eight wins from just 12 runs as well.

“It’s brilliant. She had the dead-heat to win a Category Three competition and then won another Category Three outright recently.

“She’s won her last three races and that’s the second time she’s managed three-in-a-row this year. It’d be lovely to make it four on the bounce.”

Knock Beeswing’s test this evening sees her take on kennelmate Tullymurry Lyric – an Open winner at Doncaster recently – while Richie Taberner’s Aero Pattika steps down to the two-bend trip having mostly competed over the standard 480m distance as of late.

“She’s a May 21’ bitch so, all being well, she’s still got a fair amount of racing left,” added Ashton.

“She’s got a tough race, but fingers crossed she can show her quality again.

“Everybody looks out for her, and whenever she wins, there’s a lot of nice comments on social media which is lovely.

“She’s got quite a good following now. One of the trainers from another track who was here for the Opens last week even said to me ‘she’s getting a bit famous now’.

“I’m really proud of her and it’s great for the kennels as well.”

Also tonight is a Category Three final, the Ladbrokes.com 630 containing another very consistent Monmore greyhound in Hawk – trained by Taberner.

Hawk has won 11 races at Monmore this year but faces stiff competition from Mark Wallis duo Mad For Sterling and Newinn Syd while Droopys Flotilla also won in superb fashion for Nathan Hunt in last weekend’s heats.

Another Category Three competition begins this evening with three heats in the Ladbrokes.com 480 – Vixons Filofax looking for a third win in succession for Thompson as he runs in heat one.