Midway Skipper pulled off a 10-1 surprise to land the £6,000 final over 895 metres after finishing third in the event last year.

Chalkley’s bitch had been beaten nine lengths by the 1-2 favourite Bubbly Eagle in the heats a week earlier, but got it right when it mattered when shooting into a first bend lead. She was pressed on the final circuit by Barnfield Brooke, and then the odds-on Bubbly Eagle but she showed tremendous character to see out the distance and win by a length and a half in 56.22sec.

Midway Skipper has now had 30 wins from 68 races and been runner-up 17 times and is owned by Chalkley’s wife Patricia.

They bred Midway Skipper and Chalkley, 79, involved in greyhound racing for 60 years, said emotionally: “She’s come back with a bang. It means so much for the entire family; we breed our own and haven’t bought one for 30 years.

“She was always capable of a performance like that but when bitches are coming out of season you cannot rush them and just have to let them tell you when they are ready. Her mother Midway Top Scout was a good staying bitch too and won the Golden Jacket at Catford while her mother Midway Tina was very good, too.”

Chalkley, who is nursing a broken hip, has 40 greyhounds at his Parson Drove kennels and is busy getting another litter of nine pups from Midway Top Scout ready to start racing later next month. But before that he is heading to the North East again this weekend with Midway Skipper when she will be competing in the Grand Prix at Sunderland over 640 metres.

“The trip is a bit short for her but she is back to form again now and the prize money is very good.”