Trainer Patrick Janssens looks to hold a strong hand in the ARC Laurels Final with two in next Saturday’s decider, with another ‘old boy’ also in the line-up.
It was the Janssens’ trained track record holder Coolavanny Shado who started favourite to take the first semi following an impressive first round win. But the track specialist produced another of his shocking breaks and found himself in last place at the sectional.
Instead, it was the Paul Foster trained Goldies Perryman who caused a 12-1 shock after overhauling Birmingham Cup winner Ivanexile off the last bend for a 28.29 victory.
However, the term ‘shock’ might seem a little hard to take for Perryman’s horseracing connections and trainer Paul Foster who has the dog running in the best form of his career.
When the October ’19 whelp left the Janssen kennel some 18 months ago, he could easily have been labelled as ‘A3 Towcester/short six bend minor open racer’. Yet he went into Saturday’s eliminator having clocked 28.09 over course and distance in a preparation trial, followed by a victory over Brookside Richie in an open.
As for the enigmatic Shado . . . despite making hard work for himself, he scraped through in third place.
There was a similar story line in the second semi, ‘the favourite making a horlix of a break but still qualifying’. In this case it was John Lambe’s Hurry Up Jordan who contrived to take a nap in the six box in a race dominated by Hawkfield Ozark.
Last August’s €20K Irish Sprint Cup winner bombed away in a flying 3.41 sectional for Janssens, and was never troubled. Though it is perhaps worth noting that his advantage over the favourite was less at the winning line than it was at the sectional. Arkady battled away to reach his third Category One decider.
Videos to follow.
