I remember going into last year’s Coral Regency Final with absolute confidence that Billys Bullet would win. Unfortunately, after the trap draw, I think things will have to go our way to win it this year, even though we have the top two in the market.
With Ela Ela Genie now with Kevin Hutton, our first runner is now Minglers Toure in the 475m open. He has plenty of pace but we are still struggling to find his ideal track and distance.
Our only other runner on the support card is Airforce Duchess in the bitches race. Duchess has been a wonderful bitch for us over three seasons and is a former Brighton Belle winner though she she has never run Hove particularly well and seems to keep finding one too good for her at this stage of her career.
As for the final, the draw really didn’t go as we would want with both our runners Rubys Rascal (T4) and Aayamza Breeze both drawn too far away for the rails. Rascal can come from behind though he is better when he dominates. Breeze is a very exciting prospect IF she can get a clear run.
In terms of competitions, things could go a bit quiet for us now. There tends not to be a lot going on during the Derby and we are a little weak in terms of Derby class runners.
Our best hope is Bruisers Bullet at 50-1. He is very fast youngster and open to improvement but it will be a very competitive event.
It isn’t easy to buy Derby class dogs. We mainly buy young dogs with potential, so many expensive middle distance purchases fail to make it. I have about a dozen owners who would buy a Derby dog if I could find one.
The next competition on the horizon will be the Grand Prix at Sunderland and I think Rubys Razzle will take a lot of beating.
So I intend to enjoy the Derby with very little pressure on, and will carry on with the minor opens. We are still chasing the Linda Mullins’ target for open winners with our own schedule of one open winner per day. So far it is all on schedule. We are up to 121 days and 127 winners to date.
I am particularly pleased with Calco Flyer and Clondoty Alex who are our leading open racers this year with ten wins each and are still enjoying racing. As soon as they show that they aren’t, they will be retired.
At the other end of the scale are some nice youngsters. Look out for Corrig Gorm, who is a September pup with one race on his card at Youghal (29.47 calc). I really like the look of him.
