/ The Lord / 23 June 2011 / Leave a Comment 
The floodlights will be on again at Oxford Stadium for tonight's Pall Mall semi-finals
"Talk of the tracks just now is the interest being shown in the sport by a reported Dubai-based group of owners. They have already purchased crack marathon performer Minnies Penske and are on the lookout for other stars to bolster their team."
It's all eyes on Oxford for the semi-finals of the Betfair-sponsored competition...
Oxford stages the semi-finals of the Betfair Pall Mall tonight where all eyes will be on last year's winner, Ballymac Ace, who goes in heat three.
Chris Allsopp's dog runs from his favoured trap one and is likely to take all the beating. Worryingly, for those aiming to beat him, Ballymac Ace is set to continue to improve after a spell off the card. He faces a cracking on-paper head-to-head with Brian Clemenson's speedster, Pams Tomjo.
The first semi sees the Arc winner Jolly Poacher go for gold once again. He, too, is back from a spell on the sidelines and trainer Nick Colton will be anticipating further improvement in a race where Angie Kibble's speedy local Spencers Lad will have good support.
The second semi-final of the Betfair-backed annual is arguably the most quality-laden, with Derby heat winners Brittons Empire, Romeo Reason and Fifis Whitesox (ex-Johnny Whitesox) all bracketed together.
The first two in tonight's semi-finals at 20:05, 20:50 and 21:35 qualify for Tuesday's live-on-Sky Sports all-Betfair-backed extravaganza.
Droopys Greg is the star turn as he eyes gold in the Olympic at Hove, which continues tonight.
Nick Savva's star won his heat in grand style and will be a warm order to strike from trap six at 20:34.
Three semi-finals over 515m take place at the Sussex track tonight.
Talking of Droopys Greg, the Gary Newbon-owned star could be a surprise addition to the Dundalk International field.
The 550 yards one-off is THE most valuable race of his kind with over e25,000 up for grabs at the border track on July 12.
Among his rivals are likely to be Derby finalist Barefoot Bullet and defending champion Definate Opinion.
Talk of the tracks just now is the interest being shown in the sport by a reported Dubai-based group of owners.
They have already purchased crack marathon performer Minnies Penske and are on the lookout for other stars to bolster their team.
"I see this interest as having two parts to it," said one source. "These guys want to win races, obviously the bigger the better, but are keen on the sport in general.
"There is also the prospect of some sort of breeding operation, perhaps based in Dubai. It raises all sorts of possibilities, all of them positive."
The BAGS/SIS 500 series continues to flourish as a graded sweepstakes on the afternoon and evening service, screened by SIS.
The initiative is set to be utilised on a merry-go-round between all tracks on the service, which this week becomes a seven-night-a-week operation with Poole and Sitingbourne kicking off the Sunday night experiment this week.
"The product remains strong and more money is being bet into these meetings," said one source.
"That in turn helps boost the Greyhound Fund, which is why it's being encouraged, nurtured and helped.
"There's a real revival of greyhound racing's fortunes going on, certainly where this is concerned."
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