British bred events are often disjointed events dominated by a two or three greatly superior animals. Not so the Nottingham British Breeders Stakes which got underway on Monday night.
Track spokesman Nathan Corden said: “It helped having Liz McNair’s six pups all entered. They are all very talented but inexperienced, so if I was a bookie, I would probably have wanted to lay them. You just couldn’t tell who would take to the track and who couldn’t. Some hadn’t been around here, but adapted brilliantly. Yet King Lennon, who had, was all over the place. That’s the nature of pups. But it has all made for good competitive racing including the semi finals.
“On the night though, the biggest surprise was that Droopys Trawler started at odds against (5-4f) in a supporting open. After his 480 win last week, I thought he would start at 1-2, or 1-3f.”
Nathan’s views on the three semi finals:
“I thought King Sheeran was the most impressive winner in the heats. He found trouble all over the place but showed tremendous backstraight pace. It is a case of ‘how much trouble will he find this time, and can he overcome it. Down To The Felt is the obvious danger. He put in a flawless performance after leading from the boxes and could do the same again.”
“This is the sort of competitive race that the bookies will love. There is a lot of local experience in there. Geelo Monty was a terrific dog before he was injured, but will Viking Jerry, who seems to have inherited his dad’s early pace, cut across him at the boxes. He also has Romeo Mandate who can squeeze him from the inside. Decoy Junior is another with a lot of solid form at Nottingham. A very difficult race to predict.”
“I was very impressed with Rogue Convict in his qualifier and I think he could cause a surprise. He finished very strongly and would appear to have a good staying career in front of him. Raise The Stakes did nothing wrong in his heat, and Carn Brea is a good solid open racer with a decent draw.”
