Heroic Miss – who was denied a place in the Eclipse Final when third to Bubbly Bluebird and Bruisers Bullet in her semi final – picked up a long overdue ‘Cat 2’ in the Dennis & Mabel Scarborough Memorial Trophy at Nottingham.
Laurence Tuffin’s fawn, who once beat Cloran Paddy when clocking a 15.14 sectional for the Nottingham 680m, was only two spots off that when timing her break to perfection. Once clear, she was never going to be caught as she led Moreton Melody from trap to line clocking 41.45 (+60).
It was Miss‘s (Aero Majestic-Ruby Red, Sep 14) third win – with a head defeat – in her last four races.
Owner and trainer Laurence Tuffin said: “She has won quite a few one-offs on SKY so it was nice to win a three round competition. George (Drake – physio) found a couple of little issues after the semi finals; the runner-up had taken a couple of lengths out of her which shouldn’t have happened, but we managed to get it sorted.
“I wasn’t expecting her to lead – even top sprinters can’t match the 14.95 split of the six (Pennys Luna) – but when she came away, she had to have a big chance.”
Laurence reckons Miss’s ideal trip is around 660 metres but given her four bend ability, he is keeping his options open.
He said: “We bought after a recommendation from Willie Mullan who spotted her at Lifford. He doesn’t recommend many, but they are normally good. To begin with, we thought we might have a TV Trophy bitch, but she didn’t stay the Hove 695.
“Looking ahead, There is a six-bend competition at Kinsley which we might look at, but apart from that, there isn’t a lot else to go for. We would consider a Festival event over the 630m at Monmore, but might even think about the Derby. She doesn’t have Derby class early, but could run on to qualify in a few rounds.”
The meeting featured an impressive treble for Hove’s Seamus Cahill. It included both qualifiers of a 480m competition with Sporting Dave (Ballymac Vic-Sporting Dame, Dec 15) looking back to his best with a 28.50 (+30) run. He was joined by two comparative newcomers. Running Senor (Vimmerby-Wajas Dot, Oct 15) won the other qualifier in 28.78.
There was also an impressive sprint from Lughill Robbie (Superior Product-Lughill Sonya, Mar 15) who clocked 17.73 for the sprint. Expect plenty more from the dog with the two fastest sprints at Shelbourne Park in 2017 on his card.
Meanwhile Slippy Maska (Kinloch Brae-Mays Maska, May 15) destroyed the opposition over the 905m course. Taking the lead after a circuit, Hazel Kemp’s runner clocked 57.00 (TR 56.46).
