“We are going to need a big result at home to stay in it”, but we are quite hopeful of getting it.”
Here is how he views the chances of the 14 home based runners:
2.24 (youngsters) “Headford Sky is a real good pup. Ideally he would be drawn in two, but even in two, he will be very hard to beat. Holycross Turbo would be better in three but he ran well at Belle Vue and we would expect decent points from him.”
2.42 (bitches) “We think Some Woman is another of our big chances. She is very classy and represented us in the final last year and beat Sidarian Diva in the heats of the Angel of the North Oaks before being beaten in the final. We would be very disappointed if she doesn’t win. Tonawillie Girl has come through the grades with a great strike rate. She was badly drawn at Sunderland but should get decent points here.”
2.58 (dogs) “Crooks Cruiser is in great form and has won four of his last five. He has great early pace with slow breakers on his outside and is probably one of our best three chances on the day. Upontheroof came in as a reserve at Belle Vue and did a great job in the sprint. He won’t be far away.”
3.18 (standard) “This is probably our weakest event and the Sheffield runner (Ballymac Sheehy) is the one to beat. Oor Wandrin Star is probably our best hope though he might have to settle for second. Boynepark Turbo will be running on late and can hopefully pick up a few points.”
3.37 (sprint) “We don’t have specialist sprinters to pick from this year and we are relying on middle distance dogs with early pace. Crooks Emporio was once our track champion. Unfortunately he is not at the top of his form at the moment. Colliery Deedee is probably our best hope and would go close if he trapped, but he is certainly not an out-and-out sprinter.”
3.53 (stayers) “Unfortunately we have no Shellam Delano’s this year. Selkirk Marches is our best handicapper but is returning to six bends after being lame and running over four bends which certainly doesn’t suit her. Jumeirah Fancy is a bit of an unknown quantity. She hasn’t been over six bends but connections are confident that she will stay.”
4.14 (elite) “I doubt that is any dog in the whole competition with more class than Maum Legend. He is so hard to beat here and he has to be one of our big chances on the day. The rules stopped us picking too from the same kennel, Jimmy (Wright) had several would have been useful but Going All In will not let us down. She is a wide runner, which helped guarantee Maum Legend wouldn’t be drawn six, and I would be quite hopeful of a 1-2.”
The Geordies are currently in fourth place in their region (67pts), though two of the leading teams, Belle Vue (95pts) and Sunderland (91pts), have already staged their ‘double-runner’ home legs. Their biggest concern is Sheffield (79pts) who currently available at 13-8 to win the region with Newcastle rated 8-11 favourites. Kinsley have 50pts and are 50-1 outsiders.
Allwood said: “I would have thought Sheffield should be favourites. We need a very big home win. We then go to Kinsley (Nov 13), which will be a big challenge for our dogs, and then onto Sheffield for their home leg with the powerful Draper and Parker kennels.
“We treat the Track Championship very seriously and are one of only two teams to reach every final. Our team isn’t as strong as it was last year but we are still thoroughly enjoying it.”
