Jaguar Macie proved just the tonic for trainer Graham Rankin when clocking the fastest time in the first round of the ARC Northern Puppy Derby at Newcastle.
The quietly spoken Scotsman was taken ill at work last week and was unable to take his Ladbrokes Puppy Derby winner to Newcastle where he class once again shone through. Although he watched the race on SKY Racing, he was probably Macie’s sternest critic.
He said: “I didn’t think she ran the first bend at all well. I spoke to my son Daniel (the Hove RM) about it and he pointed out that she had trialled better from trap five and was going into the bend at a different angle. She has one in the semi final but the two next to her aren’t quick breakers so hopefully she will get a decent run.”
Graham is hoping for the all clear for next week’s semis and is expecting to see some improvement.
He said: “She was half a kilo overweight last night. She will be down on that for next week and I’ll be getting some work into her. I would expect her to improve.”
Thanks to Mark Cranston for the videos – we hope to upgrade to a higher quality format
