A fourteen-race card this afternoon at Towcester and though there are just the 4 open races at the beginning of the day to look at they are 4 races of the very highest quality.  The Stadium Bookmakers Category One Hunt Cup worth £12,500 to the eventual winner. 
It’s a competition that really has attracted the cream of the staying division to the Northamptonshire circuit.  Four first round heats will see the first 3 from each qualify through to the semi-finals next weekend with the same number again qualifying through to what looks like being a final of real quality on Sunday 14th November.
The greyhounds head to traps for Heat 1 at 1.57pm and it’s a really intriguing heat to get us underway.  Aayamza Dream went into plenty of notebooks after running Salacres Pippy to 1 1/4 lengths here last week.
Mark Wallis’s bitch had plenty of high class staying form on the card in Ireland prior to coming over to the UK and though the St Leger at Perry Barr may have come a little earlier than ideal she was very much far from disgraced when running an eyecatching second to Southfield Code in the first round and unluckily eliminated in the semi final finishing third behind eventual competition winner Space Jet.
Those runs were backed up with a facile success in a maiden over course and distance here a couple of weeks ago at long odds on and though not facing much of note on that occasion she did what she had to do and did it well.  Being beaten off last week by Salacres Pippy was no disgrace at all.
Dream is fancied to tuck in behind Steve Rayners stepping up in trip Night Time Baby and come through in the second half of the race.  ‘Baby’ of course being a full sister to Rayner’s recent St Leger runner up and subsequent Champion Stakes winner at Romford.  She should be well suited by the extra distance but moving straight into what is an extremely tough six bends might just be asking a little too much against what are some extremely classy and experienced sorts over this kind of trip.
John Mullins Burgess Elite looks set to give the selection most to do and in fact beat ‘Dream’ well when meeting her over 710m at Perry Barr on St Leger Final night.  That was a 4 runner affair though and I’m not so sure that ‘Elite’ will get quite the clear run that he did on that occasion and also suspect that ‘Dream’ has come on since then too.  It could turn into a great race between the pair but for selection purposes I’m siding with Wallis’s bitch to land the spoils.
Next up it’s Heat 2 at 2.12pm and on paper at least it looks a match between Peter Harnden’s Salacres Pippy and Mark Wallis’s Antigua Lava.  Last years St Leger runner up ‘Pippy’ wasn’t quite right post season for a tilt this time around and was eliminated at the first round stage albeit not running too badly in a high class heat.  That run brought her on nicely though and she heads into todays first round having won her previous 4 over course and distance in as many weeks.
Showing guts on occasion to match her undoubted class Pippy looks well enough drawn again to ping out and make every post a winning one.  She’s shown herself on more than one occasion that she’s extremely tough to pass once in front and over a course and distance which she obviously excels she’s selected to complete the five timer in style.  Wallis’s bitch ‘Lava’ steps back in trip having established herself in that elite bracket of marathon runners which the scene is currently blessed with.
Going down by just 3/4 length in that pulsating finish to the 1st Containers Marathon Trophy Final last weekend she looks set to prove ‘Pippy’s’ most serious danger in a number of weeks and if turning on her tail this could turn into the race of the day.  Lights Out stepped up to six bends for Kevin Hutton just this week when finishing second in a Perry Barr 660m maiden.  She’s a bitch that’s shown plenty of ‘chasing pace’ throughout her career and if turning in a handy pitch might just end up a little closer than the betting might suggest.
Heat 3 at 2.32pm can go to Mark Wallis’s St Leger Finalist Blueberry Bullet.  Sent off 2/1 favourite to win the Leger final she was eventually beaten off a fair way behind winner Space Jet after a trouble marred run.  ‘Bullet’ has since gained some small compensation though with a brilliant come from behind victory in the Mitch Millward Marathon Final over 750m at Romford last week.
After missing the break and not gaining the clearest of runs in the early stages things looked set to be tough but she came through to just get up on the line from Paul Young’s Bubbly Kristal who was collared right on the line.  It was a great run from ‘Bullet’ but this more galloping circuit suits ideally and she’s good experience of the venue including when finishing a running on 2 length third to Brookside Richie in the Juvenile Classic Final here in July.
She looks a good bet to win today with Dave Mullins Kishlawn Shakira whose last performance came in the final of the Champion Stakes at Romford well drawn against the fence to follow her home for second place.
The fourth and final heat comes at 2.52pm and can go the way of Steve Rayner’s Champion Stakes hero Night Time Danny.  He run a super race for a long way in the St Leger Final only to have his heart broken in the latter stages by the ultra strong running Space Jet.  It was a great run though and he gained deserved compensation when landing the recent Champion Stakes Final at Romford.
Looking out of it early after a missed break he really turned on the afterburners in the latter stages to eventually win quite comfortably from the pace setting Gymstar Elusive.  ‘Danny’ moved well in a refresher trial of the Towcester circuit this week when clocking 16.01 in a 270m solo and that run can tee him up nicely for todays heat.  Sweet Leaf can take second for Laurence Tuffin.
She’d run well to beat off Blueberry Bullet in her heat of the Mitch Millward Marathon a couple of weeks ago and though that rival overtuned the form in the final she wasn’t beaten off too far and is unlikely to be far away again today.