Local boy Bellmore Cricket set the standard in the opening round of the Jenningsbet Puppy Classic at Nottingham on Monday. The Barry Denby trained black made it three wins in four races and clocked a career best 29.75.
“He had a great start to his career, being graded kindly in his first race winning by eight lengths” quipped Racing Manager Peter Robinson.
“In all seriousness, he did a very good trial and looked well capable of winning that first race, but I thought, ‘he is only a January puppy, shouldn’t we be looking after these youngsters.”
In fact, the hugely experienced grader is always a little cautious with puppy events.
He said: “The local owners sometimes ask why we don’t run graded puppy opens. Looks at the heats last night and you can see why. Some of it is bumper car racing, which is why I like to put pups in with older dogs. But there weren’t any major issues.
“There were a couple who are slightly between seeds, Narcos Chapo was probably the main one, a railer who doesn’t want trap one. In a graded race I might have swapped around Droopys Request and Swift Mellow for the third semi, but there isn’t much in it. Thankfully we ended up with three rails, two middles and a wide in each semi which is just about ideal.”
