The six heats were run on last Saturday evening’s card for this year’s Ladbrokes Golden Jacket.

It was an evening of contrasts which saw joint ante-post favourite Bubbly Swallow stamping his authority on the event as he romped home in his heat while the other joint-favourite Blonde Reagan made a shock exit finishing last in his heat.

Most big races have certain strange facts accompanying them and with the Jacket, it is that no ante-post favourite has ever gone on to win the event outright. Will this statistic end this year?

In Bubbly Swallow, we have a dog that on paper has every chance of landing the £15,000 winner’s prize and a nice added touch is that one of the dog’s joint owners ran a national competition offering his half share in the dog to the lucky winner for the duration of the Jacket.

Bubbly Swallow came home in a time of 45.85 seconds and the other five heat winners were Lode Vanquish (46.14), Ding Hero (45.99), Boherna Bridge (45.74), Droopys Xavier (46.02) and White Soks Roks (46.03).

At this point I think that in these six greyhounds we have probably seen the 2013 champion.

Boherna Bridge was somewhat of a surprise heat winner as his starting odds of 6-1 reflected. However, having previously experienced traffic problems here a week earlier, on this occasion he flew out of the traps and was never headed.

Lode Vanquish impressed me here a fortnight ago but a week later was caught and passed by Lottes Girl.

It seems to me that he only just gets home over this 714 metre trip and that there is not too much left in the tank.

White Soks Roks is a class dog and with a plum draw in trap six in his semi-final it would be a major shock if he does not make the final.

So we have two dogs in Bubbly Swallow and White Soks Roks who have outstanding credentials for this race and two others who could spring a surprise if things go their way.

I like a bit of value and will therefore take Boherna Bridge to win the Jacket. The semis are this Saturday morning and the final is on Saturday, February 16.