BRITISH PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

In what would prove a very decent week for Team Fenwick, Brookside Richie became the fourth fastest hound over the Derby course with a 28.92 run in Sunday’s trialstakes. It was Richie’s first time over the Derby course since leading but finishing down the field in 2022 RPGTV Juvenile.

It is almost two years ago that Bockos Belly broke the Towcester 500m track record with a 29.03 run. While litter brother All About Gold never reached those levels, he still had enough about him to see off Yarmouth’s top middle distance performers in 27.85 on Wednesday.

The remarkable Bellmore Sally extended her Crayford record to 8 wins and 3 seconds from12 races on Saturday. In all honesty, her 45.23 in the heats of the Crayford Vase was a ‘ticking over’ type of performance, the 23.52 sectional set against a 23.07 in the Golden Jacket decider and the 45.23 set against a 44.77, albeit on a slower track. By any stretch though, this is exhibition stuff.

Sally was also the fastest hound over Nottingham’s 680 metre course last year with a 41.42 (+60). On Monday, Diane Henry’s Savana Heross covered the same trip in 41.47 on identical going. Some run!

Tom Heilbron’s Dubh Gasta hit the ground running with five wins in his first nine opens. After a fallow spell, he looked somewhere near back to his best with a 15.85 win at Sheffield, just 10 spots off the year’s quickest.

A 26.50 was good enough to secure Harlow’s POW last week. This week, Kevin Proctor’s Front Mali covered the 415m in three spots slower, though the going was rated -20. That’s five wins and three seconds in his last nine outings.

Suffolk Downs’ finest went to traps on Thursday afternoon for the weekly opens. Having twice followed home track record holder Luna Jezabelle, Roger York’s Camp Holly took full advantage of Jezabelle’s Crayford switch by romping up in 34.68 on (-60) going.

Three hours later, two Hutton flyers went to Swindon’s 476m traps with punters struggling to separate them. 29.24 Towcester winner Forest Icon was eventually made the 6-5f with kennelmate Twolengthstoogud returned at 15-8. But few had taken John Campbell’s Velocity Drive (11-2) into account as he popped up with the fastest time of the year, 28.25.

But there was better luck for the Hutton Kennel at Oxford the following night when puppy Tenzin’s 26.96 in A3 was quicker than Burnchurch Mick’s victory in a supporting open (TR 26.81).

It was Tenzin’s half brother Make Noise who produced the top performance at Hove this week. The 2021 RPGTV Puppy Derby winner  beat a field that included the 2022 Monmore Puppy Derby winner Deelish Frankie in 29.63.

It wasn’t a blank week for the Janssens kennel though with the dynamic duo Slick Sakina and Fabulous Azurra in action at Perry Barr. The latter is more forward and the 12 length win in 28.64 was every spot of the -50.

The regular Friday night conundrum at Romford with worthy performances over three distances: Ballymac Slap Up (225m-13.40), Shelone Milo (400m-23.77), Savana Camino (575m-35.00). We’ve just edged it to John Mullins runner who was completing an open race hat-trick on three different tracks and only Gatouttamyway (13.27) has gone quicker this year.

It was another sprinter who emerged from Monmore’s Saturday night open race card. Despite very handy performances from Longacres Queen (28.22-480m), puppy Droopys Buzzer (28.33) and Droopys Creative (41.27-684m), it has to go to Angela Harrison’s Narcos The Great with a 15.21 FOY sprint. The quickest run last year was Crossfield Dusty’s 15.13.

Narco’s kennelmate Alnwick Snoopy (28.72) clocked the quickest run in the opening round of the BGBF British Bred Maiden Derby at Newcastle. Though that run is surely trumped by the 28.74 of John Marriot’s November puppy, Fearsome Enigma?

While at Sunderland, we have simply changed our ‘Wittons’, with Supremo being replaced by Witton Survivor, courtesy of a 27.11 run in A1. It is six spots off his PB, though he was also the fastest hound over the 261m trip last year.

Staying in the North East, a simple enough task at Pelaw Grange where puppy Knockalton Ally went quickest during the track’s sole fixture. That is five wins from her last ten outings.

Central Park continue to do a decent job in managing their going issues with Liffeyside Woo and Millbank Peach sharing the fastest 480 run of the week, 29.20. The tie-breaker is the going allowance with Dan Brabon’s having the faster calculated time on -20 going. She seems to relish this time of year. Last April/May, she rattled up an A1 six-timer.

It was a coin toss at Doncaster too though for different reasons. Sean Parker’s Lightfoot Doak once again proved herself as the track’s top 450 performer with an eight length win over brother Lightfoot Patel in 27.62. But we’ll edge it to Jimmy Gaskin’s puppy Trewmount Star for a 29.61 (-10) run over the 483m. One spot off the fastest of the year. But if he ever learned to break . . . .

Staying in Yorkshire, Kinsley must have set a record for the number of graded races under 28.00 at a single meeting, five, with the fastest being a 27.83 A3 dead heat between Ferndale Tok and Moss Row Gemma. But the selection is the A1 winning puppy Ballymac Frisby who only missed out on a place in the Gymcrack Final by half a length.

The Henlow call is much easier to make following Liffeyside Blake’s near eight length win in A1 on Thursday. It was just two spots off his PB which he recorded all the way back in August 2021 and was his 81^st race for Jason Bloomfield (22 wins).