Romford Tips from Joe

*** 8.01 Romford – Bubbly Breezer (7/4 Coral)
** 9.11 Romford – Whitewood Lenny (2/1 Coral)
*8.54 Romford – Yahoo Megan (11/10 Coral)
*9.46 Romford – Fabulous Sonique (6/4 Coral)

Opens over four and six bends this evening at Romford with some interesting runners stepping up to the 575m trip for the first time with two heats of the Friday Night 500 Maiden Stayers.

Bockos Jazza, an early casualty in the Ladbrokes Gold Cup steps up in distance. My Nap of the night, however, is in the same heat at 8.01 pm, trap two Bubbly Breezer.

Bubbly Breezer has been beaten at short prices over C&D recently but having nothing inside him in trap one can help his cause here and if getting a clear run I would fancy he will be too strong for his rivals including Bockos Wazza.

Heat two at 8.19 pm can go to the classy Bockos Thunder from trap four who is also stepping up in trip. Inside draws at Monmore and Towcester have hindered this greyhound in recent weeks so the middle draw should work in his favour. If coming away on terms, he can show his class to earn his spot in next week’s final.

Other selections on the card include trap six Whitewood Lenny in the Romford Friday Night 500 Standard Final at 9.11 pm. He has a brilliant draw to work from with five railers inside him and a repeat of last week’s 3.63 sectional and 23.77 winning time would see Maxine Locke’s charge extremely difficult to beat.

Trap two Yahoo Megan can take the bitches race over 400m at 8.54 pm and trap two Fabulous Sonique can continue her fine form by getting the better of Romeo Hotshot in the 575m Stayers at 9.46 pm

Syd sizzles in Bar One Sprint Final

Broadstrand Syd clocked his third sub 20.70 on his way to winning the €20,000 final on Thursday night.

A track record from Broadstrand Syd in round one set the standard for the competition. Beaten just once on the way to the decider, by the 2023 champion Carrick Aldo, the John Linehan-trained black is only a couple of weeks out of puppy status.

Sent off as the favourite, even a steady start in the final was not enough to give any of his rivals a chance, producing 20.67. Syd went around second, taking up the running turning for home and was always holding Elite Kursk who ran the race of his life in second.

The runner-up would have had many sentimental supporters following the recent death of trainer Myles Roban’s father. A 20.76 was a competition best off a flying 6.97 split. Road Exile finished third with the defending champion in fifth.

Five of the six finalists were by Droopys Sydney, another feather in the cap of the super sire who was returned from stud duty last year.

There is now a shot at a €10,000 bonus if Broadstrand Syd can double up in the Bar One Laurels at Cork.

Nottingham receives Select Stakes entries

Nottingham reports solid entries for the JenningsBet Select Stakes. The prestigious one-off race is staged alongside the JenningsBet Puppy Classic Final on Bank Holiday Monday, August 26. 

A Greyhound Writers’ Association panel will now decide the runners for the £12,500-to-the-winner Select Stakes plus a list of reserves in order of preference.
Won last year by the Graham Holland-trained Clona Duke, the first Irish winner of the famous event, the nominations for this year’s 500m contest are Links Maverick (Tom Heilbron), Untold Dollar (Graham Holland), Unanimouspanther (Pat Buckley), Newinn Syd (Mark Wallis), Romeo Command (Patrick Janssens), Barntick Bear (Patrick Janssens), Salacres Slick (w) (Peter Harnden), Superfast Gorden (w) (Pat Buckley).

The draw will be made next week after the runners are finalised.

Ladbrokes prices for Monmore

An early look at the semi-final prices from sponsors Ladbrokes for tomorrow’s card.

Gold Cup Semi-Final One

13/8 Antigua Eagle 11/4 Beaming Panther 5/1 Romeo Crossfire 6/1 Untold Euro, Wrighty 13/2 Breton Brigitte

Gold Cup Semi-Final Two

4/6 Churchfield Syd 9/2 Aero Sacundai 11/2 Coolavanny Mercy 8/1 Vixons Filofax 9/1 Romeo Steel 10/1 Seaview Sydney

Gold Cup Semi-Final Three

13/8 Cunnigar Yousir 7/2 Romeo Jackson 4/1 Ballymac John 9/2 Icemans Girl 5/1 Newinn Benni 14/1 Annual Atticus

Summer Stayers Semi-Final One

1/1 Droopys Clue 6/4 New Destiny 8/1 Coonough Crow 10/1 Ballymac Johnjo, Havana Top Note 33/1 Swift Depot

Summer Stayers Semi-Final Two

5/6 Cooladerry Dust 4/1 Mad For Sterling 5/1 Baywatch Bullet 6/1 Miami Bullet 7/1 King Combs 20/1 Aero Arran

Summer Stayers Semi-Final Three

4/6 Queen Georgia 10/3 Tricks Matilda 6/1 Gary The Arb, Savana Jackpot 12/1 Havana Lover 28/1 Noirs News

Open Race round-up

There were opens on Thursday night at both Hove and Swindon. 

Kilcash Jack got the night started at Hove with a first open race success for Gemma Byford. The kennel has had eight winners from 16 graded runners since Byford took over from Norah McEllistrim. Jack will have been a popular winner with the Hove faithful.

Belinda Green had a treble on the card courtesy of Ballymac Lolls, Turkish Lira and Joes Sagar. The best four bend time of the night would come from Candolim Monsoon for Derek Knight. He had his trapping boots on to produce his best race sectional over the 500m trip.

At Swindon, the best was saved for last with Carol Weatherall’s Getup Me Boy producing the run of the night. He edged to the front early on and drew almost seven lengths to the good by the time the line came.

Dashing Dude bounced back after a messy run at Valley on Sunday. Swindon’s top sprint performer picked up his 13th open race success of 2024 with a four-length victory in 15.27 (-15).

Suffolk Downs to remain shut until 2025

SIS has confirmed that Suffolk Downs has been removed from their schedule for the rest of the year. 

Kevin Boothby has said that it is going to take several months to tackle the issues at the track. The main two are the lack of any power intake to the site and requiring specialist removal of asbestos in the roof. A structural survey will then be required ahead of any potential opening date being announced for 2025.

As we said in yesterday’s round up, the SIS schedule will be tweaked to accommodate this. There will be two fewer meetings per week from SIS while Suffolk Downs is out of action.

Open Race Winners

18 wins: Different Speed

16 wins: Acomb Felix

14 wins: Ballymac Taylor – Druids Say Go – Romeo To Victory – Queen Joni

13 wins: Coonough Crow – Dashing Dude

11 wins: Bettys Jack – Queen Georgia 

Stats

  • Moanteen Federer – 3.26 Kinsley – 8/13 from trap four including six of his last seven.
  • Phoenix Puma – 4.16 Crayford – Has won five of his last six runs in A1 grade.
  • Devilsbit Honey – 6.59 Sheffield – 7/10 when running in an A3.
  • Mitches Mountain – 7.24 Harlow- 5/8 in A4 when drawn in six.
  • Cheque For Sir – 9.10 Kilkenny – 5/6 in A2 when clad in the black jacket, 11/16 overall in this grade.
  • Reagrove Taylor – 10.22 Sunderland – 5/7 in A4 grade at the track.

Opens

Friday: Romford
Saturday: Doncaster
Sunday: Crayford ♦ Sheffield ♦ Towcester