Longwood Coursing Club played host to Week 1 of the Sylvester Doyle Puppy Championship, Ray Boundy Memorial and Strathbogie Cup on Sunday.

Like tennis, with four Grand Slams, coursing has its equivalent with four Classics –Victorian Derby, Victorian Oaks, Sylvester Doyle Puppy Championship and, of course, Waterloo Cup.

We’ve already identified the best young male and young female in the Derby and Oaks, but the Sylvester Doyle Puppy Championship brings the ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ together to identify this season’s best puppy.

It’s now down to the last five remaining competitors in the Puppy Championship and no surprise to see Derby winner Rothwell Chunk (Murray Collyer) and Oaks winner Kyanna (Dallas Massina) still in contention.

Both have been super impressive and are yet to look like getting beaten.

While they may be the favourites, the three remaining competitors – Lochan Aura (Aaron Campbell), Oolana (Dallas Massina) and Ol’Harlan (Dallas Massina) – will no doubt have other ideas. Dallas has a very strong hand with three of the remaining five runners.

Oolana seems to have improved even further from her Oaks effort while Dallas is thrilled to have her big boy, Ol’Harlan, healthy after several niggles.

Lochan Aura is a very fast dog and Aaron will be hoping he gets a chance to show his strength.

The Ray Boundy Memorial is the open-aged feature, and four very fast dogs remain in contention including last year’s Waterloo Cup finalists All Inn Billy (Tony Duncan) and Kasemi (Kristie Collyer).

Ray Boundy Memorial semi-final opponents All Inn Billy (left) and Kasemi.

The ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ will go head-to-head in the second semi-final. Kasemi has proven herself this year’s best courser but All Inn Billy looked impressive in his comeback from injury. Can’t wait for this one!

The first semi-final involves fast femmes Nine Nine (James Shaw) and Amazonian Queen (Melanie Lithgow). They have clashed in the past with a current 1-1 score line, so this will be the ‘tiebreaker’ between very even competitors.

Meanwhile, the third event was the Strathbogie Cup, which gave the Maiden dogs a chance to compete in a feature and they didn’t disappoint.

We witnessed some very impressive up-and-comers. Subsequently, Unknown Ability (Indiah Guy) will be up against All Inn Cash (Tony Duncan) in the first semi-final while Where’s Goose (Clint Arthur) and All Inn Ryder (Tony Duncan) will contest the second semi-final.

Finally, well done to Weblec Cruiser (James Shaw) which defeated Myola Knight (Annette Kampman) to break his Maiden.

While we saw some great slipping from Simon, our northern slipper, the best slip of the day went to Nicole Cachia when she was caught unaware by two Capuano dogs, which saw the lure before she did, and she followed for a five-metre slide through the mud.

Full credit to her though, as she didn’t lose either dog. That is a true greyhound trainer!

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday for the exciting conclusion of these three features.

Compiled by National Coursing Association of Victoria joint secretary – Sean Lithgow.

Recent Victorian Oaks winner Kyanna (left) with littermate Kalyara.