This is one of those weeks where you know what the outstanding Performance of the Week is going to be before you read the article.
Last week Fromposttopillar was ‘Moral Standards like’, after a slow break in the Olympic semi finals and finishing second to Deelish Frankie. On Saturday night, he was ‘Premier Fantasy like’ with an outstanding burst of early speed and, well, frankly, he just ran away from them. His winning time on a track rated -20 was a phenomenal 29.78 for the 515m. The supporting 500m opens were won in 29.81, 29.54 and 29.59! That is just phenomenal.
A great run too from Clongeel Ozzie in the Ballyregan/Curtis Memorial, but he was never going to outshine the McNair runner this week.
Overall though, it was a week that continued to be dominated by the weather with a number of meetings badly hit. According to our reckoning, 10 meetings were cancelled – seven of them morning meetings – and others were badly affected by heavy going.
Towcester lost the same meeting twice, at least the RPGTV Puppy Derby part of it, which was cancelled on Thursday, the coldest day of the year, and then again on Sunday. After seemingly overcoming the frozen ground, the track’s notorious starting mechanism was again at fault.
The Northamptonshire venue had raced on Monday and Tuesday on -80 for the standard when Courtneys Girl clocked what will surely be a unique time to appear in this column, 30.42, when landing the A2.
Sister track Suffolk Downs, even more exposed to the elements, lost all three meetings, and while Henlow failed to race on Friday, the Sunday evening meeting was staged on -20 going with the veteran Westmead Mel more than justifying the minimal going adjustment with a 27.57 run.
Swindon’s top performer Romeo Atomic won his race just nine minutes later. The British bred pup romped up by 13 lengths in 28.66 for the 470m on going rated -60.
The last race of the week ending December 18 provided the 20th Performer Of The Week. The 2021 Olympic finalist Borna Wine ran away with the A1 at Central Park in a very respectable 29.76 (-70). It was only a third outing in five months for Tony Collett’s 38 kilo black.
On Friday night, Romford’s six bends was running -140 with the fastest time of the night shared by Crafty San Diego and Nipsey Hustle. We’ll edge it to the former on the basis of it being a Cat 2 final and his puppy status.
Oxford’s Friday card didn’t survive the frost and they finally got through their Bet365 Challenge semi finals on Saturday. Chelms Cub had handled the 712m well enough to land the Hunt Cup at Towcester and duly took the fastest Oxford 650m semi on going rated -160.
Front Mali went to traps for the first time after finishing third in the recent Gold Cup at Oxford and landed Harlow’s only open race of the week on Wednesday in 26.51 (-20).
On the basis of there being less scope for inaccurate assessments in sprints, it might be a good week for a shout out to an impressive D1 winner at Monmore, Crossfield Larry with a 15.79 run on -40. (The standards were running -80). We’ll apply a similar principle to Kinsley’s Sunday card where the standard distance runners were performing on -80 going. Locally bred puppy Acomb Johnny took the D1 in 16.78 (-40).
After losing their only weekly meeting last Sunday, Pelaw Grange were back in action this weekend. There was no sub26.00 runs but the fastest winning time rightly went to the sole A1 winner Errill Can with his 11th victory of the year.
The Nottingham selection is simple enough, the quickest of the three National Sprint semi finalists, Farneys Trend who also happens to be the fastest over 480 metres (28.37).
Tuesday night featured the semi finals of the BGBF British Bred Derby at Sheffield and the opening round of the PGR All England Cup at Newcastle with just three spots between the fastest times over the two 480m courses.
At Brough Park, it was the locally owned Brookside Richie who dominated with a fastest time, 28.49 (-20), just five spots slower than his only other run over course and distance back in May.
There was disappointment in the North East for the Janssens kennel but much better news at Sheffield where Fabulous Azurra took one step closer to defending her 2021 title. Not only was the 28.46 (+10) her fastest win over c&d, she remains unbeaten at the track in five outings.
Times were irrelevant when it comes to the Crayford selection where three of the top hurdlers in training met over the 380m course with Lenson Doolin holding onto his title from last week, albeit in a time almost ten lengths slower.
Perry Barr was assessed at -50 when Crystal Tilly won an A4 in 29.09 on Thursday, though she did romp up by seven lengths.
In addition to Sheffield, among the tracks who handled the cold weather particularly well were Yarmouth, Sunderland and Doncaster; none traditionally known for being ‘Costa’ locations. Sunderland could even boast a rare sub27.00 graded run from seven length A2 winner Head Lad. The going was rated +40.
Quickest at Doncaster was A1 winner Lightfoot Shapp, who had finished down the field in last week’s top A1 won by sister Lightfoot Doak. She won again on Sunday beating yet another comrade, Lightfoot Patel in a photo finish.
On the subject of littermates, last week at Yarmouth, Quagos Peggy finished second to brother Quagos Jack as he went to within two spots of their sire’s 16.02 sprint track record. It was Peggy’s turn this week with a 16.09 run.
