Towcester racing manager Chris admits that he would have moved runners around had he been placing the six Star Sports Derby finalists in a graded race.
In many ways, three railers, two wides and a middle is the perfect combo, though the vastly experienced Page thinks there was room for improvement.
He said: “I would probably have put Wildcat in one. The reason being that he doesn’t tend to trap as well from the middle. If he doesn’t come away, I could imagine trouble on the run to the bend. If he was drawn red, even if he missed his break, he should still lead up the two next to him and ensure a clear run for all of them from the first bend onwards.
“Overall, the form has worked out well. We have had 50% winning favourites and if you’d asked most people, before the event got underway, to name six finalists, I think they would have picked at least three who have made it.
“I think the clear lesson has been that dogs take a few races to run the track and I thought Angela Harrison’s preparation of Droopys Verve has been exemplary. She brought him along before the competition got underway and he has got better and better.
“Overall, I thought most trainers tried to seed their dogs correctly, though we will always have the difficulty over middle seeds. Because of a shortage of wide seeds, most trainers with middle seeds take a decision that they would rather take a chance on their dog getting trap one, than a guaranteed trap five, so they enter them as railer.
“But that isn’t a problem confined to Towcester, or the Derby, it is happening all the time in open race competitions.”
