The 2014 Yorkshire St Leger came to an exciting conclusion last night as the Dean Childs trained Millwards Teddy landed the £8,000 prize in impressive fashion. In the highlight of Doncaster’s live Sky card, the favourite got a great start, but did have Baliff Turbo for company during the early part of the race. The two dog could not keep pace with Teddy however and the 2/1 jolly was able to kick on to ultimately score by two lengths from 7/2 shot Romantic Rambo in a time of 41.34. Kevin Cobbold’s greyhound acquitted himself well throughout the competition but was unable to get the better the six dog on this occasion. We may well see some more battle between these two greyhounds in the coming months as they are both likely to take part in the upcoming William Hill St Leger, which kicks off at Wimbledon on the weekend of October 25th.
One greyhound who failed to make the St Leger final when strongly fancied was the Charlie Lister trained Farloe Tango, and it was revealed last night that the 2013 Greyhound of the Year will now sadly be retired due to injury. With the reigning St Leger champion unable to defend his crown, Lister felt that it was now the right time to retire this talented dog.
He told the Racing Post, “It’s still very sore and we’ll have to wait for the swelling to go down to see what other damage there is. I called Keiran (part of the syndicate who own Farloe Tango) and we decided there was nothing else for him once he couldn’t make the Leger.”
It wasn’t all bad news for legendary trainer Charlie Lister on Thursday night however as he secured a double on the Doncaster card, with both Killieford Khali and Tyrur Annaleen obliging. These two greyhounds both returned a shade of odds on and will have provided a bit of welcome relief to favourite backers following a number of shocks throughout the night. The biggest of which saw another of Lister’s dogs, Redbrick Stuart, beaten at odds of 2/9.
Millwards Teddy now heads the betting for the William Hill St Leger and is currently a 7/1 chance with the sponsors, while runner up Romantic Rambo can be backed at odds of 10/1 with the same firm.