Greyhound Racing: The Oaks, The Lady and The Vixen!

The William Hill group continues its valuable support of the greyhound racing scene with another final to savour at Wimbledon on Tuesday 28th November. This time around, it is the battle of the bitches in the William Hill Oaks at Wimbledon over the Derby distance of 480 metres. Earlier this month, we had the William Hill Laurels at Belle Vue and the longer distance William Hill St Leger over 668 metres at Wimbledon.

The line-up in the Oaks final, which is due for the off at 9.45pm, looks like this:

Trap 1. Cleenas Lady [R] (trained by Terry Dartnall, Reading)
Trap 2. Dilemmas Flight [M] (trained by Nick Savva, Henlow)
Trap 3. Africa [M] (trained by Mark Wallis, Walthamstow)
Trap 4. Deanridge Vixen [M] (trained by Ian Reilly, Ireland)
Trap 5. Chakalak Paris [M] (trained by Paul Young, Romford)
Trap 6. Jazz Hurricane [M] (trained by Derek Knight, Hove)

In the two rounds of heats and the semi-final, the inside-drawn Cleenas Lady has been very consistent and is good for the distance. She is the only official "railer" and might have a clear run if Dilemmas Flight sticks to the middle track. However, the big danger comes from Ireland's Deanridge Vixen who has posted two rapid times in the qualifiers. If she gets a flyer out of the traps, she will take some catching.

Jazz Hurricane out of trap 6 beat Cleenas Lady in the first round with a fast run and strong finish so cannot be ruled out. She will need a clear run to the bend and is not categorized as a wide runner so some crowding of the dogs drawn on the middle to outside tracks is inevitable. This is something punters will hope will not affect Deanridge Vixen out of trap 4.

Dilemmas Flight in Trap 2 is trained by the savvy Nick Savva but her times to the bend and the line are nothing exceptional.

The other runners are Africa, trained by in-form Walthamstow man, Mark Wallis. This final, to which she qualified against the odds, looks a race too far given her decidedly average times.

Chakalak Paris got away to a flyer in the semi-final and was able to breeze in behind Cleenas Lady to qualify for this final. She will need another well-timed start to get amongst the front-runners again.

A likely scenario overall is for Deanridge Vixen to bomb out and if she does, she can avoid the bumping that seems likely at the first bend. Cleenas Lady will have the rail but with the wet weather we have been having, her track might be damper than the sand further out, which might favour the outside drawn animals.

In the betting, the bookies see this as a two-dog race but there is plenty of evidence that some hot ante-post money is on the "1 Dog" Cleenas Lady. She is quoted at a best 11/8 with Premier Bet (and as short as evens in some spots) while Deanridge Vixen has drifted to 2/1 with Ladbrokes and others.

Jazz Hurricane may be able to take advantage of any hold ups with the favourites and 7/1 is currently available at Bet365. A similar price is available for Dilemmas Flight. Chakalak Paris is friendless at 16/1 while Ladbrokes will give you odds of 33/1 on the rank outsider Africa.

When big money comes in on one dog out of two clear favourites, there is often a reason! However, at 2/1, many will fancy a punt on the dog from Ireland, Deanridge Vixen.

Even if you cannot get along to Wimbledon, fear not. You can back your fancy and then settle down to watch it come in on Sky Sports' excellent coverage of the whole programme on Oaks Final night. It starts at 7.30pm on Sky Sports 3 and the big race is scheduled for 9.45pm.

Ed note: Qualify for £100 in free bets when you open an account at Bet365

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