A fabulous FOY run from Coolavanny Shado and a treble for John Mullins, with one of the trio a causes for concern, were the highlights of the Click Competitions 77th East Anglian Derby second round at Yarmouth on Saturday night.
Coolavanny Shado divides opinion, fabulous pace with a level of inconsistency have been a hallmark of his career. But Patrick Janssens’ black boasts a recent record of four wins in his last five outings as evidence suggests maturity may be paying dividends.
When he gets it right. . . .well scroll down to heat three.
There was also a treble for local handler John Mullins though the main talk related to Swift Iconic who was definitely leaned across Knockduff Eske on the run-in. Trainer John Mullins was typically candid in his observation of the Oxfordshire Gold Cup winner who was contesting his 34th race.
He said: “The whole world could see what he did. He moved across and he definitely had a fight after the line, though that doesn’t count obviously. I was grateful that the racing office didn’t mark him. He has never done anything like that before in his career.
“He will take his place in the semi finals because he can. I have some hurdles here and I will do whatever we can to hopefully get through next week okay. Of course, before the four day rule came in, I would have definitely got a sprint into him, probably at Towcester. Now I can’t of course. Absolute madness.
“As far as the competition is concerned, obviously we all have to beat the Shado. He doesn’t run the track in my view; if he did, he would break the track record.”
