The easiest selection of the week was Garfiney Blaze following a second record breaking run over the Central Park 731m trip in Saturday’s Cesarewitch semi finals where he reduced his clock by a sneeze under five lengths with a 44.55 run.
Having seen three qualify for the Cesarewitch decider, the Wallis kennel will be represented in next weekend’s finals by a trio in the Blue Riband too. But none will start favourite as Patrick Janssens Romeo Command extended his winning Towcester sequence to five. In fact his last defeat was behind Gaytime Nemo in last year’s Derby decider.
Havana Top Note’s last run of 2023 was victory in the Bet365 Challenge Cup Final at Oxford. His first run of 2024 was a fourth-to-first 35.01 run in the fastest heat of the Coral Essex Vase first round at Romford. He is one run away from making his fifth Category One Final having previously reached the 2023 Champion Stakes Final over course and distance.
Pups learn fast – at least the good ones do. Having run so well in last week’s BGBF Puppy Cup heats at Oxford, it was no surprise to see Keefil Maverick make huge progress in this week’s semi finals. But 27.10 to 26.60! That’s just 11 spots outside the track record for an 18 month old in his fourth race.
Yahoo Megan has completely dominated the Suffolk Down selections over the last couple of months. She only lost her place on the chart after a Thursday meeting was cancelled. But she bounced back with a new 220m track record on Thursday evening. That’s nine in a row for a pup who won’t be two until May.
Glenmalure Flyer has a similar story at Valley. Since the track opened, the Steve Howard trained black has never been beaten and only lost his POW title when he was withdrawn from a race. He was back on track, literally, on Sunday with another seven length win. That is eight in a row, and a combined 60 lengths.
There has been a fair bit of mathematics involved trying to compare times on different going. Defending Newcastle champ Tonelagee took all the guesswork away with a 28.67 win against the best at the track in the best race of the week. That’s three in a row: A2, A1, A1. Simples!
When Calton Joe last raced at Newcastle it was in A5 company. He picked up his first A1 before needing a lay-off but has now bounced back with A3-A2-A1 wins at Sunderland.
Completing the North East triangle is Pelaw Grange who, unusually, staged a double A2 top heat card on Sunday night. Quickest of the winners was ex-Sunderland A4 runner Sandyhill Jess with her fifth win in her last seven races.
Last week’s Hove selection Clairekeith Remy clocked the fastest 500m open race time on Thursday. The problem is, he was only ten spots quicker than the March puppy Brentfordpenguin, so the black and white youngster gets the nod.
One staying open at Swindon this week and the outstanding form belonged to Robin Jury’s Gagas Merry who had been mixing it in good company at Oxford. The formbook held up and the brindle held off Ballymac Loca in a decent, 41.61.
Last week we told the story of Bitumen’s rise from Sunderland A2 to a Nottingham five-timer. It is now a Nottingham six-timer. Having been rated second best to Avongate Ross over the 500m course last week, the layers once again underrated Bitumen who ‘copy and pasted’ the half length win over 480m.
Meanwhile, Nottingham’s Barry Denby continues to supplement his income at Doncaster following another double on Saturday (as did Kevin Ferguson). The star of the week though was once again Leighas Dream. Her 29.23 was the fastest run over course and distance since Dropzone’s 29.13 back in June 2019.
Staying in Yorkshire, there is probably little between Catunda Layla’s 28.90 for 500 metres and Caraxes 27.89 for the 480 trip; two of Sheffield’s Sunday afternoon opens. As a tie-breaker we’ll go for recent form and that edges it to Davy McLaughlin’s runner. That’s three wins and a second in his last four opens.
Finally in God’s county, the quickest run of the week at Kinsley came from A4 winner Crackon Mammy with a 28.11 (N).
No opens at Harlow leaving the selection process down to the A1 winner Era Lucky. The former Yarmouth A5 regular followed up a D1 15.15 win with a 26.55 (-30) over the standard trip.
This time last year Alan Jenkins’ Swift Battery was completing her grading trials at Monmore before qualifying into A5. She has now run 19 times for 12 wins including four of her last five and Saturday’s 480m open in 28.67 (-10).
Later that evening at neighbours Perry Barr, there were a series of excellent runs over four different distances. Haka Carlo, who but for an M25 closure last week might have been engaged at Central Park was particularly impressive with a 42.91 run over the Leger course. But, given the greater competition over the standard trip, we’ll go for Ian Walker’s A1 regular Glimmer Man whose 28.19 equalled his PB set last October.
The Yarmouth selection was easy enough. Paul Burr’s Supa Nova won a decent A1 in 27.97 on Wednesday but consolidated that four days later when winning another in 27.81.
Henlow regulars will hope that there will be some open race support for the track’s final meeting on Sunday. In all honesty, it is coming to a sorry end with just eight races this weekend. Quickest of the meeting was A5 winner Do It Des.
No idea what to make of Crayford this week. Times were all over the place with the quickest 380 of the week going to A4 regular Shes Boss in 23.29 on Thursday. Sundays opens were all won in graded times. We’ve opted for S1 winner Jimonfaya who clocked 33.78 even though the S2 winner on the same card went two spots quicker. Help!
