By Rob Abrey
The Coral Essex Vase is finally here. After weeks of preparations it’s down to the greyhounds to do the business for their owners to try and land the winners trophy and a cheque for £10,000. Regular readers of this article will have read my coverage of several greyhounds entered for the 575 metres competition over the past few weeks. Alfies Diamond, Ferryforth Fran, Fivestar Clipper, Peregrine Falcon and Thirteen Bags have been discussed with those attached to them giving their views.
To further assist in any decision making I have found out more about Bubbly Torpedo. Available at 14/1 with Bet365 to win the trophy, Bubbly Torpedo appears to have the right attributes to win it. Trained by Paul Young, the son of Razldazl George and Spioraid Cath has fantastic early pace and the ability to run Romford. Head of the Champagne Club Syndicate, Steve Fluin on Bubbly Torpedo said: “He had a shoulder injury this year and last year. We have taken our time with him and he has started to show again what he can do.
“He is in great order. He won his last race at the start of November after coming back and came off 100% fit. After that we kept him fresh for the Essex Vase.
“It is a strong competition but he has blistering early pace. He is however not the strongest over 575 metres and would have done his running by 550 metres so needs to lead which he is capable of.”
Tonight’s card is not all about the Essex Vase and as ever the maiden stayers race over 575 metres has attracted interesting entries. Tommys Approach in the 9.56pm race is one of those. Trained by Swindon’s Paul Foster the June ’14 whelp is making his six bend debut at Romford after having all his previous twenty one races around Swindon over 480 metres. The son of Godsend and Loughlea Rosie has raced in six opens around Swindon winning three so has the quality to race at open level.
For a different view on Tommys Approach, Swindon bookmaker Dave Clark gave his opinion. On the Swindon raider Dave said: “He is a great dog. He is a strong dog and will get the trip. He has been off for a while but has come back really strong.
“In his first run back he picked up Face The Blade who is a very good dog after being three lengths behind on the home straight and at the pick up was six lengths ahead of the field. If he gets in front I would be very surprised if he gets beat as he is a very strong dog. He will improve for everything he does and he should not be under estimated.”
In the standard race over 400 metres at 10.26pm, Romford puppy cup semi finalist Droopys Schnozz is back after injury. Trained by Hove’s Jason Heath the October ’14 whelp made waves at Romford after breaking 24 seconds twice. The son of Aero Majestic and Droopys Solange has raced nine times in his career all at Romford winning four times. On his come back trainer Jason Heath said: “He went lame in the puppy cup semi final where he had a stress fracture of his fibula.
“He has come back really well clocking times of 16.30’s 40’s in three sprint trials at Hove and came off sound. Trials are different to races but he is looking well. We are going to start him off around Romford over 400 metres to get a couple of runs under his belt before we think about stepping him up to 480 metres.”
