He came into the competition as the 11/2 ante post favourite and was still available at 9/2 at the off, but there is no doubt that Clona Curly was a worthy winner of the ARC Northern Puppy Derby at Newcastle on Thursday evening.
The Diane Henry trained black went from trap four in the final . . .
It was a tale of steady progress. In the first round, Curly clocked a 4.75 sectional and a calculated time of 28.92. In the semi finals, the split was down to 4.66 and a calculated 28.57. In the final, shaved another nine spots off his sectional and 24 spots off his winning time, much to the delight of winning owner Kevin Boothby:
Clona Curly
May Judgement for Kings & Queens
Plans for an ‘All Kings & Queens’ Judgement Night (the old ‘Trainers Championship meeting’) are in jeopardy after it was decided that the event would take place at Hove on Saturday May 4.
The KSS Syndicate’s Assistant trainer Rab McNair said: “We don’t take part very often but we thought it might be nice to run a team of Kings and Queens that we’d reared here. The problem would be in the puppy race. We only have one suitable pup, Queen Libianca, who was actually reared by John Mullins and bred by Robert Gleeson, but she is still a ‘Queen’.
“Unfortunately, she is a May whelp which would make her ineligible so, I’m not sure it can be done.”
The open race calendar has also thrown up another interesting conundrum for the kennel.
Rab said: “I was working out how many we might have invited for the Juvenile? You would hope that (Kings) Memphis and Capaldi, first and second in the Puppy Derby at Towcester would get an invite. King Combs finished third in the same race and ran third in the Olympic Final. Queen Dusty fiinished fourth in the Puppy Derby and won the Puppy Oaks, also at Towcester.
“”Then there is (Queen) Joni who won the Produce Stakes and the British Bred Derby. . .It could be interesting.”
OPENS
Friday: Nottingham + Oxford + Romford
Saturday: Central Park + Crayford + Doncaster + Monmore
