Tuesday evening was quite sad as we said goodbye to ‘Meryl’ or Domino Storm. She will have a breeding careeer with Jim Hayton in Yorkshire and with Jim due to have runners at Towcester, she headed off in the van.

She thought she was off racing and was very excited – I think she would have run a great sprint but not much more. She has been absolutely spoiled with little treats since her retirement and jumped into the van like a barrel on legs. Storm was always quite a ‘solid’ girl. She might have had a little overshot face, but her power came from an incredibly powerful backend. She had thighs like Usain Bolt.

Storm has been an amazing bitch and even goes to the breeding paddocks with her own pension having won far more in prize money than her kennel bills. She raced four three seasons, most of it in top class company, against dogs, and won more than half her races.

The plan is for her to have a first litter by a proven dog, but one day to have a litter with her former ‘dream team’ kennelmate Billys Bullet.

 

I am getting an absolute buzz out of the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket and we have three through to the semis on Saturday. In my opinion this must be the best Jacket of all time.

We have won it twice already including last year when Patchys Kerry possibly won the most uncompetitive ‘Cat 1’ of all time. I am not saying that she wouldn’t win the 2017 version, but she would find it very much tougher.

Of our three, Ferryforth Fran looks the most vulnerable. Crayford tends to be a front runners track. Fran is a big dog and wide runner and finds it hardest to maintain his stride if he takes a bump, but you never know. Rubys Razzle has delighted me in recent weeeks; I think she has improved eight lengths and is that most dangerous of opponents, a bitch in form.

I still think her brother Ruby’s Rascal might beat her in a two dog trial, he ran a great race to qualify after being stopped at every bend. If I was looking for a winner outside the kennel, I was very impressed with Russalena Reggie and Hazel Kemp’s bitch Slippy Maska – though I wouldn’t swap my trio.

 

We have a mass of new pups due to start trialling and racing in the next few weeks and I just can’t wait to see them. Whatever anybody says about the state of the industry, I have seen a huge upsurge in interest. I’ve had some promising young dogs advertised on the website and am probably getting 20 offers for each of them. Even the older proven graders are going like hot cakes.