There were so many outstanding performances at Hove on Saturday it is hard to know where to start. The veteran Signet Goofy going within half a length of the fastest sprint of the year in race no.85? Or the fastest ‘695’ in six years for Garfiney Blaze (41.12)? The 28.91 for August pup Droopys Pivotel over the 500m course? No – it can only be the sensational 500m track record for Queen Joni of 28.81. Her 19th win in 25 races (76%).
The MWD Partnership might have been out of luck on Saturday but picked up a Sunday double including fastest heat winner (45.04) in the Kent St.Leger, Coonough Crow. She has four wins in her last six over course and distance with a best of 44.83.
Most of the Towcester noise recently has focused on a traps issue. Understandably so given previous history. What has gone under the radar is how consistently well the surface has been kept. There were another four sub-29 runs on Sunday, the quickest of which was Juvenile winner Faypoint Harvey in 28.85. How long until the 28.50 barrier is breached?
No opens at sister track Suffolk Downs this week and with the quickest 388m run being shared at 23.77, what better opportunity to mention Bodell Frankie over the sprint? A month short of her fifth birthday in career appearance 138, Michelle Brown’s home bred – who began her career in A9 at Henlow – was winning for the fourth time in her last seven, and astonishingly, set a new PB.
Having already reached three Category One finals connections were no doubt excited to see how Droopys Eunice would perform on her six bend debut. The answer was emphatic. Ten lengths emphatic in a 35.31 run for 575m at Romford on Friday night.
And another! Last week, Droopys Latest picked up the Harlow nomination on the back of an A1 win in 26.44. He’s stepped it up since with a 26.11 run, albeit on +40 going. He also bettered his own FOY clock for the 415m by two spots.
Most weeks, the Oxford selection will come from the weekend open race fixtures. Not so this time around though thanks to Savana Soda who skated up by four and a half lengths earlier in the week clocking 26.70 in A2. That’s three in a row for Nick Deas’ bitch.
Only one sub 28.00 run at Yarmouth this week, Droopys Prymtime scraping under by four spots. So we are switching to six bends and the £500 Cat 3 decider won by Irene Barnard’s Droopys Oaklynn. Despite running over different trips, she hasn’t been out of the frame in her last five.
Staying with the ‘Droopys’ theme, the quickest over the Newcastle 480 metres this week is Angela Harrison’s Droopys Niece. After an exciting arrival at the track last autumn, the strong finishing black and white bitch went through an ‘ordinary’ spell but after rediscovering her early pace she saw off an A2 field by almost seven lengths to set a new PB of 28.57.
Meanwhile at Sunderland, locally bred Witton Survivor – a dog with a PB of 26.89 – found himself languishing in A3 last month. But two wins in three races, most recently a 27.34 in A2, suggest he is possibly returning to his best.
Completing the North East triangle is youngster Dorotas Diamond who made it fourth time lucky at Pelaw Grange with the quickest run for the standard, 26.01.
There was no Deelish Lucy in opposition this week at Kinsley leaving Lynnway Touch to dominate the A2. That’s five wins in her last six outings for the Illijan Zivkovic trained runner.
Acomb Irene began her career in D2 graded company at Kinsley. On Sunday she was in South Yorkshire to pick up career win 22 with a 28.52 run for Sheffield’s 500m. But we are going to swerve her in favour of Untold Taka. Although there probably wouldn’t be much in quality of performances with Taka winning in 27.60 for the 480m, Carol Weatherall’s 37 kilo blue is primarily a ‘short end’ stayer and was warming up for the forthcoming Three Steps To Victory.
Nottingham staged three opens on Monday. But as a spectacle of interest, they couldn’t compare with a cracking B1 featuring local stars Bitumen and Sambar Kian (the fastest hound over the 500m course). But both were put in the shade by Peter Holland’s Velvet Madrid. She had beaten Bitumen two races earlier before losing to him last time out. She really meant it this time though with a near four length success in the fastest time of the year, 28.41.
Swindon ran a cracking Thursday night card including a string of decent opens. The highlights included a 27.95 run for Eze, a six bend win in 41.47 for Alright Patricia but most significantly a new 896m track record for Alright Gordy.
The big hitters were all lined up with three consecutive A1s at Doncaster on Saturday. First up was Ballymac Levi (29.73) followed by Brick Baron (29.82) and last, but by far from least, the home bred Agile Annie (29.53).
Monmore has been running pretty slick in the last week with a number of sub-28.40 runs. The quickest came from another British bred – the seven length A3 winner Bang On Polly with a career best 28.34.
Staying in the Midlands and the 480m distance, Mt Heaton Boyo has the fastest calculated time at Perry Barr this week, a 28.42 on ‘normal’ going. But we’ve got to go for puppy Ballymac Bingley with a three length A2 win in 28.37. For a youngster who was KO’d in consecutive races, he might just kick on with a new wave of confidence.
It was a better week for ‘defending champs’ with Mystical Mango completing last week’s ‘heat and final’ mission at Valley with a 15.97 run. Now let’s see what she makes of the 460.
For offences against punters you couldn’t have a better suspect than Atomic Crimes. Three weeks he returned 6/1 when beating an A1 field. Last week, when all eyes were on Asbo Lenny, he did the layers another turn when winning at 12/1. The pair met again on Saturday and Crimes mugged punters for a third time at 5/1. If that wasn’t brazen enough, his winning distances were: nk, sh ½. Trainer Collett is probably up for a bookies’ award.
