The flying pooch, named after Jones' breakthrough movie Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, looked out of it as he flashed past the line alongside Derby favourite Rio Riccardo in his semi final. But to the amazement of a capacity crowd at Wimbledon Stadium, Smoking Bullet was judged to have qualified by the shortest of short heads.

Now Jones' hound, an 33-1 shot at the start of the competition, is just one race away from winning his owner a cheque for £50,000 and himself a place alongside the all-time greats of greyhound racing.

Unable to be at the track because of filming commitments in Athens, Jones sent along celebrity pals Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and snooker players Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan to represent him at Saturday's prestigious Greyhound Derby dinner. It was Wood who relayed the messages about events to Vinnie giving the former Wimbledon hard man a running commentary of Smoking Bullet's race by mobile phone.

Smoking Bullet will have some tough opposition in the final, with the winner of the first semi final Deerfield Sunset looking to go one better than last year's third place. Owned by Father Brian Dalton, the hound blasted from the traps and was never overtaken, and with a trap one draw for Saturday's final, he looks sure to take all the beating.

The second semi final was won by Farloe club, who only six months ago was a humble grader at Wimbledon. Trained locally by Wimbledon handler Terry Dartnall, Farloe Club showed electric early pace to see off the challenge of Linda Jones' Greenfield Deal and may well have a clear run on the outside draw in six for Saturday's big race. The first race on the 14-race card is 6.50pm and the last at 11.15pm. The Derby final is at 10.10pm.