For anyone who follows dog track wagering, the English Greyhound Derby has a habit of tearing up certainties. Just when the form looks watertight, and the market feels settled, the race finds a way to surprise everyone. That’s why trainers circle June in their calendars every year, building entire seasons around a crack at the UK’s biggest greyhound racing competition.
The Derby doesn’t reward reputation. It rewards timing, luck in running, and one perfect performance when it matters most. Here are some of the most striking upsets that prove why nothing’s guaranteed at Towcester.
Astute Missile
Astute Missile’s 2017 triumph remains the ultimate Derby upset. He was trained by Seamus Cahill, who trained many iconic greyhounds, but this specific performance cemented Cahill in the history books, marking his first-ever derby win.
Still the highest-priced winner in the race’s history, Astute Missile arrived at the final without the market confidence enjoyed by his rivals, yet produced a performance full of composure. While others tightened under pressure, he ran with freedom, seizing his moment in a way that’s become typical of the Derby’s best shocks.
What made the victory even more poignant was what followed. Just weeks after his famous success, Astute Missile broke a hock, an injury that ended his racing career abruptly. He wouldn’t win another race before being retired, ensuring that his Derby victory stood alone and unforgettable. It’s a reminder that sometimes a dog’s finest hour is also their last.
Droopys Plunge
The 2025 Derby final showed that the sport hasn’t lost its ability to shock.
Sent off at 10/1, Droopys Plunge found himself overshadowed throughout the competition by headline names like Bockos Diamond and De Lahdedah, both of whom had attracted strong support and looked to have the form and profile of champions. On paper, Droopys Plunge appeared a solid contender rather than a standout.
He told a very different story when it counted.
Handling the pressure of the Derby final with composure, he delivered his best performance at precisely the right time, outpacing his better-fancied rivals and proving the simple truth that the Derby isn’t won on reputation but on execution, balance and timing under the brightest lights. His victory sent shockwaves through the bookmaking community.
Fromposttopillar
Not every Derby upset comes in the final, and few examples illustrate the sport’s brutal nature better than the fate of Fromposttopillar in 2023.
Arriving as the outright favourite and a three-time Category One winner, he looked perfectly equipped for the demands of the competition and was widely expected to feature deep into the later rounds. Instead, his campaign unravelled almost before it’d begun.
In Heat 23, he was badly bumped at the first turn and again exiting turn two, never able to recover position or find any rhythm, eventually finishing fifth and failing to progress. There was no dramatic loss of form, no decline in ability – just a brutal reminder that in the Derby, even the very best need racing room to survive.
