“I have to write Micky Patterson’s leaving card this afternoon and at the moment he might not like what will be in it” quipped Sunderland’s new racing manager Joe Frelford as he approaches Monday’s deadline for entries for the William Hill Classic and Grand Prix writes Floyd Amphlett.
The vastly experienced Patterson leaves his post this weekend and Joe’s first task will be to whittle down two anticipated fields of massive quantity and quality for Wednesday’s first round.
The most recent trial session on Monday featured likely Classic runners Droopys Expert, Kilcree Bay, Move Over Evie and Bockos Alfie. Tonight’s trial session will include Forest Chunk, Headford Kev, King Elvis and King Turbo. Other recent trialists include Bubbly Bluebird, Droopys Acrobat and Lughill Robbie.
The Grand Prix entries are likely to include Murrys Act, Bombers Bullet, Roswell Romanov, Droopys Live, Barricane Tommy, Donation, Boylesports Star, Ridgedale Max, Lightfoot King, Looking Sharp and Affleck Bolt. Meanwhile Paul Young, Hazel Kemp and Hayley Keightley have more booked in.
Joe said: “Micky has seen a lot of these and has already warned me. The Grand Prix normally just about gets the 36 runners and the Classic is usually a bit oversubscribed, but this could be the biggest ever. You might need to be a sub-27.00 runner even to get into the Classic.”
The RM admits that open race form is not his strong suit, though he is confident of not missing out any major names as he tries to whittle the entries down to two ’36s’.
He said: “Thankfully I have plenty of back-up with Ian Walton coming over from Newcastle and I will also be sounding out another couple of people. The big names will pick themselves but it is inevitable that the lower down the list there will be some very unhappy owners and trainers.
“I will do my best but I am not expecting to get any sleep on Sunday night. . . . or Monday night. . . .or Tuesday night. . . “
