December weather and an increasingly soggy track made race times almost irrelevant on Sunday evening as Henlow staged the final eliminators for their St.Leger (692m), Christmas Cracker (692m) and Cesarwitch (550m).
The £3,000 Cesarwitch is the most lucrative and the top two in each of the three semi finals made it through to next Sunday’s decider.
Recent Millward Memorial finalists Fizzypop Buddy, Slick Sebastian and Romany Rouge were drawn apart in the Henlow semis and Buddy (5-4jf) went in the first of them. Led up by Swift Slaney, he powered from from halfway to win by six in 43.72 (-120) from Fearsome Phantom (5-4jf). Second favourite Mad For It (5-2) led to the run-in in the second semi before Slick Sebastian (4-5f) extended his winning sequence to five with a 43.87 (-130), a length and three quarter win. Romany Rouge and Westmead Michel swept past early leader Mays Fiddlefadle on the second circuit with Michel finishing best for a length win in 44.22, on a track that was assessed as -150.
FIZZYPOP BUDDY is fastest of the qualifiers for the RPGTV Henlow Xmas St Leger final, romping his heat by six lengths in 43.72.
Photo: Steve Nash
The 550 Cesarewitch was predictably dominated by the Hutton team and although he sent through to the final, they did not include the most strongly fancied of his six runners. Things started well enough with a clean sweep of Jet Stream Snowy, Jet Stream Babs and Memphis Mafia, a length and three quarters and two finishing in that order in the first semi. The winner’s time was 33.96 (-90). The second semi appeared at the mercy of Jet Stream Pearl (4-6f) but she failed to trap at her best and eventually finished fourth behind Tony Tuffin’s 34.19 (-90) winner Coolykereen Rake with Jet Stream Sound and Inoslosky Mull finishing three quarters and a short head in his wake.
COOLYKEREEN RAKE (t2) finishes well to land the Xmas Cesarewitch semi from Jet Stream Sound (t5) and Inislosky Mull (t6).
Photo: Steve Nash
There cannot be many hounds with 27.24 and 27.29 recent Henlow form who have gone to traps at 10-1 but Steve Hamilton’s Fernhall Rose made the non-believers pay with a 28.23 (-20) win in the first semi final of the Xmas Cracker. She was followed home by Rising Rascal and recent Henlow Derby winner Lenson Santi (11-10f), the distances a length and a half and three quarters. The second semi went the way of the formbook with Paul Crowson’s Liam Og (11-10f) remaining unbeaten with a two and a half length win over Savana Donie (3-1) with early leader Idle Talker (2-1) half a length back in third. The winner’s tiime was 28.04 on going rated (-60).
Steve Hamilton’s local Fernhall Rose (t4) lands a 10-1 win in the Xmas Cracker semis. Photo: Steve Nash
RISING RASCAL (t1) makes the early running in the Henlow Xmas Cracker semis from Lenson Santi (t5). Winner Fernhall Rose is out of pic at this stage. Photo: Steve Nash
