Former Central Park trainer Maxine Locke counting on Droopys Reserve to thwart Elizabeth McNair’s £12,500 Arena Racing Company Kent Plate Grand Final bid

Ashford’s Elizabeth McNair has a great chance of Arena Racing Company Kent Plate glory tonight (Saturday) - but she could be overshadowed by a trainer who started her career at Central Park.

McNair will have four runners in the six-strong £12,500 Grand Final at the Sittingbourne track - littermates Queen Shakira, King Memphis and King Capaldi are drawn in traps one, four and five. Produce Stakes and British Bred Breeders Forum Derby champion Queen Joni - also from the McNair kennel - will run from trap two.

However Maxine Locke, whose career started at Central Park Stadium at the beginning of the millennium, could also land one of the venue’s feature competitions.

Locke first trained greyhounds professionally as a teenager and now cares for 87 dogs at her kennels near Wickford, Essex, with the support of a team of full and part-time staff.

The 42-year-old qualified kennel star Droopys Reserve for the Final - worth £12,500 to the winner - after he finished second in last weekend’s opening Semi-Final behind competition favourite Memphis.

Category One success isn’t new to the Locke kennel, who scooped the prestigious Golden Sprint with Lough Messi in 2014. And Saturday has the potential to be the team’s most successful day on record with Locke also running Droopys Eunice in the Premier Greyhound Racing Puppy Derby Final at Monmore in Wolverhampton.

Droopys Reserve has been drawn in trap three and Locke is keeping her fingers crossed for a positive run.

“We think a lot of him,” she said. “This is his first competition in a few months and he’s improving nicely, week by week.

“Central Park seems to suit his running style, and his trapping has been consistent, too, which I think could be helped by the curved boxes.

“It’s a very