Thankfully the dogs have been in better shape than me this week. I’ve had the flu and been on antibiotics. Nicki just looks at me in pure disgust; she doesn’t do the ‘man flu’ thing.
We are down to our last three in the Derby, which I am pleased enough about overall. We had six runners in the quarter finals and the first to go out was Highview Event. He was in great form during the day and kicking the sods up when he was on parade and I was expecting a big run from him. He then missed his break completely and was always going to struggle on a slightly tacky track. He was already beaten when he got knocked over at the last bend but there was no real harm done.
We had three left in the next heat after withdrawing Skywalker Rory. We won it with Sonic who possibly ran the best race I have seen so far. He missed his break and the concern was always going to be, could he cope from behind. Our other dog Rural Hawaii led around the bend and Sonic took a bump but rode it well. He then ran on strongly to win by two and a half lengths in 29.91 (-20) with Ballymac Matt just running Hawaii out of second place and Jo Jo Fantasy back in fourth, but still only a length away.
Then in the next heat we had the two bitches. Sidarian Pearl did everything right to lead all the way and was very impressive winning in 29.91 (-20). Slippery Louise missed her break completely and finished fifth. No complaints though, she did everyone proud.
So we have three in the semi finals:
HEAT 1 1 Ela Alecko, 2 Farloe Rumble, 3 Ballymac Matt, 4 Cahir Castle, 5 Sonic (m), 6 Escapism (w)
HEAT 2 1 College Paradise, 2 Holycross Leah, 3 Gyp Rosetti, 4 Roxholme Barkley, 5 Sidarian Pearl, 6 Rural Hawaii (w)
Overall, I am not too unhappy with the draw. Sonic will need to break and get across his field but there isn’t enormous amounts of early pace in it, so he must have a chance. Sidarian Pearl is as much a middle seed as a wide runner. She has won from four and six so trap five shouldn’t phase her. Rural Hawaii or “Danno” (Hawaii 5/0 get it?) is an old campaigner who knows his way around and should run his race as he always does.
What is particularly exciting is that we trained either the mother or father of each of our semi finalists. Sonic is by Knockglass Billy who we trained out of Vickis Dream and was bred by Pat Maloney from near Youghal. Most of the Knockglass Billy’s have decent early pace, but the stamina comes from the dam. We had Notorious Ben from the previous litter and he was a real tough 600 yard dog.
We had Duck Fat (dam of Rural Hawaii) and Rockburst Pearl, the dam of Sidarian Pearl. The daughter Pearl is very much like the mother; big and strong and took a little while to mature. In fact, we nearly didn’t run Sidarian Pearl in the Derby. She ran in the Youghal Oaks and was very unlucky in the final. I thought she was fit but we gave her a 550 at Shelbourne and it knocked the stuffing out of her. She dehydrated and she had only just about recovered for the first round but she has gone from strength to strength ever since.
Incidentally, Rockburst Pearl is due to be covered by Knockglass Billy this week.
We also had runners elsewhere on Saturday night. Drive On Tipp (Droopys Scolari-Mohane Patient, Jan 15) won the Geryhound & Pet World Stakes at Cork for Larry O’Rourke.
The dog was originally owned by my physio Chris Donovan and was then bought by Larry. He looked promising in his heats without winning one. But the trap draw in the final was key. He managed to get to the rail at the first bend and then pulled away to win in 28.05.
Then at Waterford, we had Skywalker Rossa (Taylors Sky-Rossa Baby,Oct 13) win her semi final of the Waterford Oaks. She was an expensive bitch for Ray Patterson who has taken a while to come to her best but she seems to be there now. I don’t think Waterford is really her track, she is really a strong 550 type, but she has a reasonable draw (T2) in the final and goes in with as much chance as any.
