Yarmouth created their own bit of history on Monday when staging seven A1 races on the same card writes Floyd Amphlett.
GM Simon Franklin said: “It has never happened before in my time here, and is perhaps even more surprising given we lost Mark Wallis’ dogs.”
Six of the seven races formed the first round of the Yarmouth Track Championship, a popular annual event at the stadium and being staged for the 67th time.
Assistant racing manager Ben Mannall said: “It is a competition for top class Yarmouth graded runners who have had 3 graded races at Yarmouth within 12 weeks of the closing date.
“It is worth £1,000, Silver Challenge Cup and a Presentation Jacket to the winner. This is a yearly competition that is usually staged in October and has been going on for some years now and is a competition all Yarmouth trainers aim to win.
“We did not stage this competition last year due to a clash with the Bags Track Championship. So from now on in the future to avoid this happening again we are now going to stage it in February!!!!!
“The last time this competition was staged it took place on the 23rd October 2013 where it was won by Ilewin Allot in 27.83 + 20.”
Anybody doubting the legitimacy of so many A1 events need only to compare the winning times of the six winners: all clocked between 28.03 and 28.24.
The non-championship A1 was won in 28.51, though a supporting A3 was won in 28.19.
Fastest on the night was the John Mullins trained pup Rorys Way (Droopys Scolari-Ardrine Lunar, Apr 13) though Mannall is tipping another Mullins runner to land the prize.
He said: “Soviet Paddy! (beaten half a length in this heat). This is the one that for me has massive potential to win the competition. “He is very lightly raced and has not long come over from Ireland. In very good hands with John.
“He has clocked a very impressive 5.31 sectional and won the race in 28.14 on normal going.
“He also has a very smart sprint trial round here the other day clocking 16.48 – calculated but on a slow track and will probably go faster on good ground.”