Henlow racing manager Paul Mellor hopes to see more home bred stars of the calibre of Castell Henry following a hugely successful first running of the British Breeders Forum Sprint.
The draw saw the unbeaten Coolavanny Frank go to the red box as a 1-3f in the £3,000 decider. Lurking out in orange though was 6-1 shot Castell Henry. . .
2016 Ladbrokes Puppy Derby winner Henry covered the 277 metres in 16.43, just one spot slower than the favourite’s fastest time of the year. The winning distance was a length.
Paul Mellor said: “That’s the nature of sprints, a fast break can make all the difference. The winner was electric out of the boxes and won on merit as the time proves. I still think the runner-up will go on to become one of the fastest sprinters in the country.
“I don’t know whether this is a one-off or whether we will stage the race again. I hope so. There can’t be too many tracks, if any, that give more debuts to British breds than Henlow.”
Mellor picks out Westmead Chief as youngster to follow in the coming weeks. The July 15 son of Coolavanny Bert and Westmead Sula has won four of his five races to date, the most recent being a 27.87 (+20) run for the 460 metres.
Mellor said: “He could have gone even quicker because his sectional was 13 spots slower than in his previous race. Generally pups improve for a couple of runs but then plateau for a while. Chief hasn’t done that.”
Another for the notebook is Kim Taylor’s Irish born youngster Clonkelly Roman (Mall Brandy-Clonkelly Jewels, Aug 15), who was beaten on debut by Chief, but then won in 28.08.
“I think there is a fair bit more to come.” aid Mellor.
