As expected, the Magical Bale/Forest Natalee litter dominated the Produce Stakes with Signet Denver leading home sister Westwell Emer from brother Signet Goofy with Sleek By Design and Signet Otis finishing fifth and sixth. No Rush (King Elvis-Vahsel Bay) was fourth.
The winner’s time was a spot outside his own track record, on identical going, despite having gone nine spots quicker at the sectional!. It was Denver’s second Cat One victory having already won the Laurels. He was also runner-up in the BGBF Puppy Cup.
A few hours earlier, another British bred Magical Bale offspring, Fabulous Azurra, carried off the Cat One Bet365 Empress Stakes at Towcester. Along with litter brother Romeo Magico the pair have ensured an interesting British Bred Dam of the Year contest between Fabulous Artist and Forest Natalee.
Continuing on the subject of British breds, March pup Acomb Alfie continued his impressive run of form at Kinsley. The defending track champ found seven spots on his A4 win when landing the week’s top four bend event, an A2.
The third Cat One decider of the weekend saw Borna Rhythm overturn Lenson Doolin (2-5f) in the ARC Champion Hurdle Final. The winning time was nothing special, but that’s seven wins and two seconds from his last ten races for Tony Collett’s runner: Central Park and Crayford, over sticks and on the flat.
Friday night featured another double header of open racing from Romford and Oxford. The Romford card was particularly strong with opens over four distances including three semis of the Puppy Cup. On the supporting card there is a real tough call between Havana Bale Out’s 34.81, a new FOY for the 575, and 750 winner Blueberry Bullet with a 46.57 for the 750 (the fastest run since Ziscandil’s 46.56 two years ago). We’ve gone for Bale Out, mainly on the basis of the number of major races over that trip. And there could be more to come!
The Oxford racing office deemed the 15.13 (-10) run of Headford Harry as worthy of ‘track record’ status despite the comparatively few runs over the distance. It certainly serves as a handy marker though. The dog’s 15.50 Swindon clock has been bettered many times, including by himself, but more importantly, Friday’s run was a reward for four months of patient nursing and rehab.
A series of fabulous runs at Sheffield on Tuesday including a 27.66 (480) for March pup Moanteen Lennox and a sharp 660 run (38.92) for kennelmate Coolavanny Aunty. But the remarkable Geelo Striker made another return from lay-off to clock 28.55 just five spots short of the FOY.
At Yarmouth on Wednesday, Derrinasafa Boss clocked three spots quicker than East Anglian Derby winner Hopes Paddington. But the Wallis runner had to graft for his win against tougher opposition and hasn’t been out of the frame in his six UK races to date.
On the same night, Dave Lee’s Corrin Logan was stretching his unbeaten run to four when producing the week’s best performance at Harlow, 26.55 (-30).
The following night saw the semis of the Birmingham Cup and St.Leger at Perry Barr. The result was a ‘copy and paste’ for Havana Lover who once again clocked the fastest time of the round for the former stayers classic.
Meanwhile at Hove, there was a fabulous 29.00 run from Clongeel Ozzie in A1. It was the fastest run over course and distance in over two and a half years and only 14 spots outside Antigua Romeo’s track record.
Newcastle staged four A1s on Wednesday; Angela Harrison won three of them with the fastest being 28.62 (-10) winner March On Larry. But all are swerved in favour of 19 month old Sporting Yankie who clocked 28.62 (N) when winning an A2 on debut. Sister track Sunderland has been running much quicker, as much as +40 when Tiermana Hayes won an A1 in 27.19. Instead we’ve opted for the 27.36 (+20) A2 win for Glasmeen Flow, not least because he still has five more weeks with puppy status. Completing the North East trio is Pelaw’s My Cousin Hallie with a 25.66 run for the 435m. A recent 415m open race winner at Harlow, the 36 kilo black with 21.21 (400) form at Dundalk, clocked the joint sixth fastest time of the year.
Nottingham lost their Monday open race fixture due to the Royal funeral which gave a number of pups the chance to shine. They include Swift Main (30.07/A4) and Avongate Ross (30.08/A2). But for taking out A1 company in 30.11, we’ve selected Swift Super for his fifth win in 10 outings.
Suffolk Downs also lost a Monday meeting but the performance of the week was easy to call. Only one hound broke 24.00 in the subsequent two meetings, Jim Daly’s Riverdale Uisce. That’s four in a row for the ex-Crayford 23.24 winner.
On the subject of Crayford, no trees were pulled up this week, graded or open. The best performance possibly came from A1 winner Drumcrow Cody with a 23.40 run. No such worries at Donny. Two decent A1s run 15 minutes apart on Sunday morning. Who would go quickest? Answer Zero O Eight.
There was an even better shoot-out at Henlow on Saturday where the big guns all turned out in a top A1: Savana Raven, The Grafter, Tymekangaroodown. But none could live with the no.1 performer for the third consecutive week. We give you, Henlow’s top hound, once again, Les Of Rhy in a new PB of 27.30. Keep bringing them on!
While most eyes were on Shelbourne Park on Saturday night, Monmore took the opportunity to recalibrate their timing system. They used Gougane Jet who clocked 15.30 (-05) having clocked 15.31 (-05) last week. There has clearly been an issue with the timer – his previous four times were 15.19, 15.14, 15.39 and 15.24. All wins – obvs!
