Monmore Green bosses excited for Gold Cup and Classic to get under way

Monmore Green bosses have shared their excitement as the track’s last two major competitions of the year draw closer.

The Ladbrokes Gold Cup (480m) and Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic (630m) each begin in a fortnight and culminate on Saturday August 22nd, with the winners bagging a cool £10,000 apiece.

Long recognised as a highlight in the calendar at Monmore, the events are again expected to attract some of the very best greyhounds Britain has to offer.

Monmore has already hosted three Category One competitions in the Ladbrokes Winter Derby, Golden Jacket and Puppy Derby in 2026 while the high-level David Lipsey Trophy invitational took place at the Wolverhampton circuit in July.

Racing manager Tony Williamson expects both the Gold Cup and Summer Stayers to live up to previous years as he said: “I’ve been here at Monmore for more than 30 years now, and the Gold Cup and Summer Stayers are always highly anticipated.

“We had a pair of fantastic winners in 2025, with Headford Dane taking the Gold Cup for Maxine Locke and the JR Racing Syndicate to complete a Puppy Derby and Gold Cup double.

"The magnificent Vhagar was superb in winning the Summer Stayers Classic for Mark Wallis and the MWD Partnership, too, and it’ll be interesting to see if they both return to try to defend their crown.

“Of course, both events will attract quality entries from trainers all over the country, including Zenith Pasha who has been very impressive over six bends here for James Fenwick (Newcastle) recently, but there are some based here at Monmore who could be worth keeping an eye on.

“Shake The Bottle (Brian Thompson), Wise Tournament (David Page) and Magical Keith (Gary Griffiths) have all been in fine form over four bends as of late, while Aero Pepinillo (Richie Taberner) and Onceinalifetime (Kim Billingham-Hine) are reliable performers over the 630m trip.

“We haven’t had a home winner of the Gold Cup for more than 20 years while Kevin Hutton was the last to win the Summer Stayers while contracted here at Monmore back in 2020.

“Whoever wins this time around I’m sure will very much deserve the honour. We can’t wait to get the competitions underway.”

Monmore general manager Paul Mason added: “These big nights always bring an added level of excitement, and we hope to have a healthy crowd here on August 22nd for the finals.

“We’ll also have two Category Three finals, the Peter Billingham Memorial Trophy (480m Puppy) and Wednesbury Garden Services Sprint Trophy (264m), so it should be a fantastic occasion.

“We’re all very much looking forward to seeing who our 2026 Gold Cup and Summer Stayers Classic champions will be.”