I am looking forward to Wednesday’s RPGTV Oaks Final at Belle Vue more in hope than expectation. It will be Domino Storm’s last race and I am hoping that she can go out on a high. In truth, I think she has plenty to do from her draw in trap four. Last year we would have taken them on from any trap, but she is a year older and not in the peak of her form.
It is a high quality field and although she is in the best possible shape that she can be, and I am expecting an improved performance from last week, I will honestly be quite content just to see her come off the track safe and sound. To have any chance she has to come away at her best and avoid the three who I would expect to veer her right at the boxes.
Storm is a lovely bitch but has always had that bit of something about her, she knows she is the queen of the kennel and will put any disruptive youngster in their place. I suppose winning the Oaks last year must rate as her outstanding achievement, for a bitch it is the pinnacle, though the Select Stakes win at Nottingham, against the best dogs in training, would come very close.
BILLYS BULLET Photo: Steve Nash
The following night we say goodbye to another kennel stalwart in Billys Bullet. He probably has too much on his plate to take on Diego Flight, but we will just savour his last race at Hove.
I am very proud of getting Billy back from a broken hock and his win in the Regency must rate as our highlight of 2016. Billy was never quite the same dog after the hock and despite the win at Hove, I think he had lost that devastating pace that he had in the earlier part of his career. He is still running well enough, has no injury niggles and could probably run another 20 races, but I think it is important that champions bow out while they are still recognisable as champions.
Billy already has a litter on the ground and they have taken enough semen for future litters if anyone wants them. He will then go home as a pet with (his owner) Scott Murray.
Domino Storm will be our 21st category one finalist this year, and we have already won seven. In fact, if you had a £100 bet on each of our ‘Cat 1’ finalists you would be over £5,000 in front.
I think we have our eighth trainers championship sewn up now and we are already looking ahead to 2017. I have no doubt that 2017 will be our biggest challenge for many years and I would expect a formidable challenge from many of our major rivals, most notably Paul Young.
Greyhounds of the quality of Domino Storm and Billys Bullet are very difficult to replace. I think Ela Ela Genie would have a realistic chance in the National Sprint Championship Final and could develop into one of the country’s top sprinters next year; the best sprinters are invariably three years old and Chubbys Oaks should also win his share of the shorter distance races. I am very excited about Mash Mad Eyebrows for bitches races. She struggled to see out the trip in the Oaks but should improve with age.
The kennel will be built around Rubys Rascal who has been a revelation over the staying distance and barring injury will surely have more big wins to come. Over the short six bends, we are still to see the best of Roswell Romanov. Over the marathons there should still be plenty of wins in Ribble Atom, and I have another possible contender coming through. The biggest areas of disappointment is that we haven’t had a serious Derby dog for the last couple of years. We have around 20-30 new young dogs due in the kennel in the next few weeks, hopefully there is a serious Derby dog among them . .
