With the Ladbrokes Stayers Classic first round imminent, Droopys Clue dominated Saturday’s preparatory one-offs with a 37.48 run on Saturday night. If you factor in going allowances, that run would be seven spots slower than New Destiny’s 37.41 last week. Her sectional that night was 12.26, Clue’s on Saturday was 12.46. Destiny’s corresponding clocks on Saturday were 12.62/37.87.
Kevin Hutton’s remarkable feat of qualifying all six runners for the British Bred Oaks Final is an extraordinary feat with Southfield Poppy (26.79) the quickest of them. The top performance though has to be attributed to Matt Dartnall’s Lively Lauren with a 39.30 run over the six bend trip. Only track record holder Havana Top Note has gone quicker (39.13).
March On Freddie has only raced six times in Britain but is appearing in this feature for a second time. The first was a 28.98 run for Hove’s 500m. The second was last week’s FOY for Nottingham’s 500m, 29.37. His dad, The Wildcat, loved the place, 12 races, 9 wins. Those successes included an unbeaten run through the Eclipse. Winning times: 29.33, 29.38, 29.35, 29.35! His racing weight in the final, 36.8kg. Freddie weighed in at 36.7kg.
Earlier in the day, it was another Wildcat who was impressing at Suffolk Downs. Michelle Brown’s Golden Acre was easily the most impressive of the 388 metre open winners with a 23.79 PB. The October youngster is improving with every run and has four wins in her five outings at West Row.
The similarly aged British bred youngster Redbrick Tulip went to traps on the same day and made it three wins from five outings in a hot Doncaster A1. It was a tough enough A1 too but she started like her dad and stayed on like her mum, so expect to see her on the open scene any time soon. Definitely one for the notebook.
Doncaster-based Avongate Venus is the joint quickest hound over the track’s 483m course with a 29.19 run. On Sunday afternoon, Phil Milner’s black produced the sixth fastest time of the year for Towcester’s 500m trip with a 28.61 (+10) open race win. That is six wins in her seven UK races to date. Kennelmate Keefill Maverick who won the Doncaster POW last week, clocked 29.07 in second.
Yorkshire bred Acomb Felix’s last defeat came in a Doncaster open though he extended his Sheffield winning sequence to six with the quickest run at Owlerton this week, 28.77. That is career win no.30 from appearance no.77 and he has never been in better form. That Doncaster third place was his only time out of the forecast places in his last 14 races – 10 wins, 3 seconds.
Felix’s first ever win came in D1 at Kinsley where he ran his qualifying trials a little over two years ago. The top race of the week was an A2 won by Kilara Thystes with last week’s top heat forecaste Canal View Ten and Deelish Lucy following him home in 27.94 (+20). It wasn’t the quickest run of the week though. A3 winner Westside Bocko clocked 27.91 on the same card while Da Ma Joey recorded 27.83 (+30) earlier in the week.
Most weeks, Murrow Inkosi’s 27.78 would normally be a quick enough time for a crack at Yarmouth’s POW. On Wednesday though, that was bettered by both Vis A Vis (27.75) and Astral Queen’s, 27.65. However, all three have been edged out by the track’s current top sprinter Slick Serenity with a 16.25 run. That’s nine wins and four seconds in his last 14 races.
There was no outstanding candidate from Hove’s Thursday night open card. Jamie Kingsley’s experienced Droopys Elk was marginally the quickest of the four bend open winners with a 29.36 run. Seamus Cahill’s puppy Missile One was only six spots slower. But we’ve gone for the kennel’s 695m winner, Join In. The 41.93 run was a first open race victory for a bitch whose career began in A10 last October.
Best bet of the week? We’ll go for Tullymurry Dylan who was returned at 13/8 when he extended his winning sequence to five with a new FOY for Romford’s 225m trip in 13.21, just half a length outside Chopchop Rainbow’s clock. Anybody having Teaboy Brownie in a straight forecast would have collected on four of those occasions. A mention too for the Rees-trained September pup Avarua Zlatan with a 23.76 run.
Times are harder to quantify sometimes at Essex neighbours Harlow where God Bless clocked the quickest run of the week in A3, 26.68 (N) on Monday. The outstanding performance was always going to be about Friday’s A2 where Maurice Rice’s Over Easy was expected to dominate (11/8f) and did! The 26.81 (-10) run sealed a four-timer which included a 26.39 (N) run.
No opens at Central Park either where Saturday’s card was dominated by two A1s and no sign of . . . you know who. . . Asbo Lenny! In his absence, Tony Collett’s Lostrigg Joel was left to do the showing off with win no.18 from 67 races. He was actually four spots quicker than Lenny’s win the previous week. On head-to-heads though, the score is 5-1 in Lenny’s favour.
Two A1s at Perry Barr too, though you might argue that the one containing last week’s champ Tullymurry Jenga was more of an A1*. He didn’t win it though. That honour went to Shirley Aveline’s Ask Nicely who held off the Lambe runner by three-quarters of a length in the best run of the week, 28.51. That’s three in a row for the socially aware litter which includes Fine Thanks (28.20 Monmore) and A5 grader Mindyourmanners.
Angel Of The North finalist Wraysbury Katie was made an 8/11f to land Newcastle’s top A1 of the week. But she was never seen with a squeak after Moanten Webby bolted clear. A regular backmarker in the handicaps, Angela Harrison’s brindle made full use of an empty track to clock a career-best, 28.42.
Pelaw punters put plenty of faith in Naochra last week when he was backed down to 10/11f to land the A1. It didn’t go quite to plan though and he was beaten by 25.92 winner Brynoffa Pippy. Roll on seven days and the pair met again. Punters kept the faith and were duly rewarded as Mick Connolly’s 10/11f came home unchallenged in 25.52, the fifth-fastest run of the year.
Dashing Dude has ensured that Frank Bryce has dominated the Swindon selections this year. But with the sprint track record holder taking a brief break, the mantle passed onto kennelmate Baggios Intent who led home a ladies’ race to clock the quickest four-bend run of the week, 28.21. (Apologies to Intent for previously misgendering her).
Unwanted Present went into Valley’s Sunday afternoon open as the reigning track record holder, 4/9f and chasing a five-timer. She came out of it without the win or the track record. That clock now belongs to Mike Burton’s Cassidy with a 27.96 run. A mention too for Different Speed on completing a six-timer and 19 wins in his last 20 races.
The last selection of the week came from Crayford where there were four sub 23.20 runs including three from Dave Lee’s kennel. The Queen of Crayford Laughil Jess landed her heat of the Guys and Dolls in 23.16, (the same as Maxine Locke’s Droopys Rarity). Jess’s kennel mate Mini Eva went even quicker in 23.11, but the selection with a 23.03 run was All Along; a dog who made his debut in A5 company earlier in the year.
Finally, a story from the ‘never give up hope’ file. Ridgemount Ruth ran four times at Newbridge between last October and January: 6th-18l, 6th-15l, 6th– dist, 6th-10l. She took a while to settle at Sunderland but won an A2 last week in 27.17 and polished off an A1 on Friday in 27.11. If you recognise the breeding, she is a litter sister to the Holloway jumping ‘Razldals’ Randall and Barkley.
