By Dylan Brennan

IT wasn’t to be for Kildare and Aidan Comerford at Towcester on Saturday night in the final of The Star Sports & TRC English Greyhound Derby. The locally owned dog put up a gallant effort but in the end came up just short and had to settle for the silver medal behind fellow Irish raider Romeo Magico.

It looked good early on for Kildare and his connections as he was quickest to stride and led around the opening bend but in doing so he moved to the middle of the track which left a big gap up his inside for Romeo Magico to explore and he took full advantage of that opportunity to pick up the running from Kildare.

Aidan Comerford’s Kildare put in a gallant effort in the English Greyhound Derby on Saturday night

It was always going to take some effort to come from behind Magico but to Kildare’s credit he made him pull out all the stops but eventually went down by a length and three quarters. 28.95 was the winning time which meant Kildare was clocking 29.09 in defeat which was his quickest time of the competition.

It may not have been enough on this occasion but it won’t be the last time that Kildare and Aidan Aidan Comerford will be seen in a major final. He’s already reached two big finals in just eleven career starts, finishing third in the first one and second in this one so he’s going in the right direction. Connections will be hoping it will be third time lucky!