Despite the brilliant 29.14 run by Droopys Verve in Friday night’s Derby third round, Angela Harrison’s runner was not the quickest in the second half of the race according to Mark Pierrepont’s computer adjusted timings.

Runner 1strd 2ndrd 3rdrd
Jaytee Taylor 14.57 14.63 14.38
Droopys Verve 14.82 14.62 14.44
Lemon Ronald 14.49 14.82 14.56
Paganini Show 14.76 14.94 14.57
Ballymac Anton 14.69 14.81 14.59
Clonbrien Prince 14.78 14.74 14.59
Magical Bale 14.95 14.67 14.59
Ballymac Tas 14.75 14.73 14.62
Priceless Blake 14.69 14.73 14.62
Skywalker Logan 14.33 14.75 14.62
Queen Beyonce 14.67 14.83 14.63
Dorotas Wildcat 14.75 14.72 14.65
Droopys Expert 14.94 14.75 14.66
Nice Charmer 14.96 14.81 14.66
Master Reed 14.70 15.05 14.67
Headford Maurice 14.76 14.77 14.69
Raise The Stakes 14.83 14.73 14.70
Roxholme Glory 14.92 14.94 14.72
Dower Rory 14.93 14.60 14.75
Droopys Davy 14.55 14.78 14.75
Droopys Trapper 14.89 14.79 14.75
Emers Cookie 14.76 14.88 14.75
Roxholme Jim 14.95 14.80 14.75
Seaglass Phantom 14.69 14.66 14.75
Desperado Dan 14.86 14.82 14.76
Jelly Flood 14.49 14.55 14.76
Worseforwear 14.75 14.85 14.77
Antigua Sands 14.86 14.71 14.78
Lemon Express 14.95 14.92 14.81
Ballyanne Sim 15.08 15.02 14.82
Antigua Romeo 14.83 14.89 14.84
Bockos Doomie 14.85 14.89 14.84
Bull Run Button 14.88 14.89 14.85
Slaheny Star 15.02 14.86 14.87
Wildfire Jimmy 14.79 15.10 14.87
Ballymac Osby 14.76 14.66 14.90
King Sheeran 14.93 14.62 14.90
Liberty Hawk 14.78 14.84 14.92
Swift Jim 14.89 14.90 14.92
Volcanic Reef 14.75 14.73 14.92
Front Edge 14.78 14.80 14.94
Lemon Shane 14.73 14.68 14.96
Knockduff Declan 15.06 15.05 14.99
Cooneen Jack 14.84 14.98 15.24
King Dylan 14.71 14.86 15.24
Dorotas Woo Hoo 15.05 15.05 15.30
Plaza Lep 15.00 15.06 15.35

That honour went to Jaytee Taylor with a 14.38 run, some three quarters of a length quicker than Verve.

In fact, Paul Hennessy’s dog recorded the second fastest ‘from halfway’ time of the Derby, a sectional only bettered by Skywalker Logan who was five spots quicker in his track recording breaking first round run.

At the other end of the scale Lemon Shane scraped through despite being the sixth slowest runner in the round.

The other interesting bunch are the known front runners whose improved ‘second halves’ may reflect a gradual improvement in fitness.

Cue quiet satisfaction for Kevin Hutton and Graham Holland, among others.