This is an extended weekly review to include Boxing Day.
The remarkable Chelms Cub completed a fabulous year by landing the Bet365 Challenge Cup at Oxford on Friday. That was his fifth Cat One final of the year and second victory following on from the Hunt Cup. His 40.08 was more than a second and a half quicker than his semi final return.
Earlier in the day, the exciting Romeo Command landed the long awaited RPGTV Puppy Derby second round heat. To put the run into some perspective, he is the youngest dog to break 29.00 over the Derby course, and just half a length slower than Magico’s Derby winning time.
Also on Friday, Aayamza Magic clocked the third fastest 575 of the year and just seven spots outside the track record with a 34.62 run.
On Monday, Gougane Jet added the National Sprint to his Scurry title to conclude a fabulous year. That is 15 wins from 18 races. A special mention too for the amazing Churchill Holly with a 29.52 win over the standard course. Not bad for an old girl who was four in July.
While Jet must now be favourite for the Sprinter Of The Year title, the BGBF British Bred Derby winner Fabulous Azurra is very much in the reckoning, along with kennelmate Slick Sakina, for the Bitch of the Year title, after successfully defending her title. It was win 13 from 17 in 2022 for the near 33 kilo blue.
Also on Tuesday and despite the fabulous performances in the PGR All England Cup, we can’t ignore the A1 win by Blackhouse Harry in the fastest 480 seen at the track in four years.
There were no Hove opens this week, but a very worthy A1 win by Candolim Monsoon, his third from eight outings. With a -60 going allowance, his time was a respectable 29.25.
Likewise Harlow punters were only offered graded opportunities, but Front Mali’s A4 win was easily enough to ensure that the Oxfordshire Gold Cup third retained his POW honours for a second week.
Oxford Maiden Vase fourth Super Nova was one of four Paul Burr finalists in Yarmouth’s Track Championship which took place on Boxing Day. The 4-6f duly took his winning sequence over course and distance to seven with a five length win.
Lizs Legacy landed the best of the Crayford Christmas Eve finals. The Guys And Dolls winner was completing a four-timer.
Perry Barr ran the same day but with the going at -30, it was always unlikely that Go Go Abbie’s 28.73 recorded earlier in the week would be bettered and it wasn’t.
It is ten months since Energize Rose clocked a calculated 25.01 on her first look at Suffolk Downs. She has shown steady progress throughout that time and on Monday, Mark Wallis’ white and brindle rocked up by 12 lengths in a calculated 23.76.
With Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, some of the most prolific meetings for this feature were lost. Henlow lost theirs and with only four races staged following an abandoned meeting, they and not included. Pelaw Grange lost their sole meeting though Kinsley fared better with two midweek meetings which resulted in a close call between two pups from the Fradgley Kennel. Feb youngster Classy Choe won A4 in 28.53, the month older Itcouldberate popped up in 28.47 (both -30).
Swindon’s Sunday evening opens were obviously impossible which should have resulted in instant recognition for A1 winner Sayyousayme. Although kennelmate Westmoor Layla was ten spots slower on the same card, the 28.51 (-10) for a May puppy is arguably a superior performance.
Lostrigg Joel and Mustnt Grumble were both impressive A1 winners at Central Park this week. Based on winning times, the latter would have won by a short head but hat-trick completing Joel is able to play the puppy card for the last time.
The Doncaster going was massively slower this week making time comparisons particularly difficult, even with the opens. But Lightfoot Tereza’s A1 win in 30.05 (-60) was considerably quicker than the open on the day so we’ll go with that.
We conclude on one of the great characters of the last couple of years, Monmore’s Shelbys Memory. But he isn’t just mentioned on the basis of nine wins at his home track this year (he also won a six bend open at Crayford), he also popped up with the outstanding graded run of the week. The Arun Dunne trained runner is a great example of the reason that confined veteran opens are such a loss to the industry.
