The semi-finals of the Stan James-sponsored Greyhound Grand National take place this coming Friday at Wimbledon and the competition is looking wide open.

The sponsor has Platinumlancelot and Hotdog Jack disputing favouritism at a best-priced 9/2 with Nebucahadnezzar on the drift to 5/1 (6/1 with Skybet) after the son of Boherduff Light was a well-beaten favourite in Saturday’s quarter finals recording a modest 29.13 after being crowded and bumped.

Platinum Lancelot won his heat in a mightily impressive 28.39 to record the fastest time of the night with Hotdog Jack not far behind with a rapid 28.50. Maybe of more importance was Jack’s 3.81 sectional which was a clear length quicker than any other dog remaining in the competition.

The first semi-final has Platinumlancelot with a seemingly plum draw in trap one but a word of caution. The Other Outlaw, drawn beside him, recorded a sectional time that was one spot quicker on Saturday so the favourite needs to be on his toes in the dash to the first bend. Given a clear run, Platinumlancelot (Evens with the sponsor) should get punters off to a winning start.  

A “three dog race” looks likely in the second semi-final with Little Boy (trap 1) and Distant Legend (trap 6) sharing favouritism at 2/1 with Stan James and Mall Byte (trap 5) at 11/4. It’s 8/1 bar these. Mall Byte was the quickest of the trio on Saturday beaten two lengths by Hotdog Jack and looks set for another clear run on Friday. Distant Legend was in all sorts of trouble from the start in his quarter final and is likely to improve enormously with any sort of run. Little Boy has a superb draw with the slow-starting Sonyador on his outside and this may swing matters in his favour. Interestingly, the top three in this heat are all best priced at 14/1 to win the competition.

Mall Byte with Bet365 and BlueSquare, Distant Legend with Bet365 and Victor Chandler and Little Boy with Boylesports and Skybet.

Hotdog Jack (Trap 1, 11/8) and Nebuchadnezzar (Trap 2, 7/4) go head-to-head in the last semi final. If Saturday’s form is anything to go by then the favourite looks the proverbial “good thing”. However, Nebuchadnezzar is a railer and was drawn in trap five in his quarter final so may have done well to qualify and can be expected to improve greatly on that performance.

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