/ The Lord / 16 February 2011 / Leave a Comment 
The Betfair Trainers' Championship returns to the south for the 2011 edition
"Juvenile night at Wimbledon will see the six handlers to be represented in the Betfair Trainers' Championship put a number of their potential team through their paces."
A big month is in store at the south west London track with the Sky cameras set to broadcast live on two occasions
Wimbledon dominates the Sky schedule for the next month with the Racing Post Juvenile on March 1 followed by the Betfair Trainers' Championship on March 22.
But the Sky slot on March 30 is still under some doubt, with Swindon lacking a sponsor for the Arc competition.
"It's quite up in the air just now," said one industry source. "Swindon were committed to the slot, but have had difficulties striking a deal with a backer. Other tracks are now looking to perhaps take the slot from Swindon, if it suits both parties and the broadcaster.
"The betting still favours the cameras rolling up at Swindon on March 30, but this whole episode has again put the Sky scheduling issue into focus. In the future the big races will take precedence, and the lesser events will have to fit in it seems."
Juvenile night at Wimbledon will also see the six handlers to be represented in the Betfair Trainers' Championship put a number of their potential team through their paces.
Boher Paddy will probably 'captain' Charlie Lister's team as the Derby favourite. He goes in the Juvenile itself, while a number of his kennelmates are also currently trialling with a view to making up Lister's eight-strong team for the shootout later in the month.
Trainers will have to provide runners for standard races, stayers events and a puppy race.
One open-race judge, looking at previous winner Lister's likely line-up, said: "It will be interesting to see how Charlie sees the six-bend races. Carbarns Tom has been a stalwart of his for the past two years but he's now retired and Droopys Belletti recently joined Ted Soppitt. But he still has Droopys Alma, who is top-class at best, although is on the way back after injury. But Charlie is a master of selecting his team."
Talking of the Betfair Trainers' Championship, Lister will be joined by his rivals for the lucrative one-off - champion trainer Seamus Cahill, Mark Wallis, Chris Allsopp, Pat Rosney and Paul Young - at the now traditional Trainers' Championship lunch, backed by Betfair, in London on March 2.
Group Skater and Lorrys Options both won their heats of the Golden Jacket at Crayford on Friday night, and must have created some sort of record in doing so.
The pair are the winners of the last two Golden Jackets. Group Skater, the Irish raider, won last year and Lorrys Options in 2009.
Victory in his heat completed a great comeback from the Dean Childs-trained Lorrys Options, whose Golden Jacket campaign ended after a few strides last year. He is aiming to be the first greyhound to regain the title.
The semi-finals take place at Crayford's morning BAGS meeting this Saturday, and boast real Irish interest with Irish pair Group Skater and Thatll Do Jack, both trained by Paul Hennessy, going head-to-head in one of the three semis.
Sunderland is the next track to feature a BAGS/SIS 500 competition.
The graded sweepstake is proving a popular, and relatively lucrative, event and will see each of the 17 BAGS track stage three graded heats and a final, each worth £500 with added heat and run prize-money. Sunderland hosts its heats on Thursday.
Belle Vue this week hosts its final, and for the Manchester track it will the first of three such competitions, as the initiative is set to be rolled out throughout the year after this initial round.
The battle for Walthamstow Stadium will this week be staged at council level.
Waltham Forest Council is under pressure from residents and the Save Our Stow campaign to help negotiate a deal to buy the famous site from London & Quadrant.
"Meetings this week and next will help put further pressure on L&Q," said one source close to the issue. "They will be shown to be landbanking the site, which will count heavily against them in any planning permission application."
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