I can’t see past Farloe Blitz for the Derby final, everything is in his favour. I think he is the fastest dog in it, he has a decent draw and its hard to look past the obvious. Having said all that, our two Derby winners were returned at 8-1 and 25-1 so anything can happen.

I will be at Towcester and watch the meeting on TV. We have five runners on the Derby support card and I hope there is a winner or two among them.

Evanta Evita possibly has the best chance in the bitch’s race. She is up against old rival Forest Twilight. The pair have had some great battles but Evita is at the top of her form at present.

Domino Storm was the fastest heat winner in the Plate and must have a favourite’s chance.

The withdrawal of Yassoo Martin (T5) is disappointing for connections but he does move wide and was a concern for Swift Whirlwind in the puppy race. At least he should get a clear run from six.

Calco Flyer has had a fairly tough time of late but seems to have a slightly easier task in the last race of the night. With any luck he can send the punters home happy.

 

As far as the rest of the kennel is concerned, life moves on. Cornamaddy Jumbo has been retired after picking up a tendon injury behind the wrist. Its disappointing, but the gracilis actually held up after all the work we had put in on it. Jumbo will go back to his breeder and hopefully cover a couple of bitches.

In the meantime, we have a whole string of youngsters qualifying at Towcester.

One of the most interesting is Giveabitback Sue, who I bought her in the auction arranged by Daren Johnson as part of his charity appeal. She is from Kinda Ready’s only litter, out of Rockburst Megan. I bought her and syndicated her out to ten owners. Fifty percent of everything she wins goes to the charity. She has trialled well, doing 29.45 (480m) in Wednesday’s trial sessions.

Ilewin Sleepy (Definate Opinion-Erinaceous Rapid, Nov 13) is from the next litter to Ilewinallot went best of all in 28.88, but look out too for Libertine Dandy and Libertine Louis.

Dandy is an August pup by Head Bound out of this year’s Golden Jacket favourite Racenight Jenny. Louis is an October pup and unraced.

Also, Penny Seabiscuit (Droopys Scolari-Pennys Kim, Sep 13) who has 28.85 winning form at Kilkenny and looks a great prospect. These are just the start, there are a half a dozen more about to start qualifying at Towcester.

We are also making our Sunderland plans with Evanta Fantasy and Clondoty Alex going for the Classic and Aayamzamodel and Jimmy Nailed On heading for the Grand Prix.

I’m due to take the family for a well deserved holiday on Tuesday, and hopefully we may have a couple of finalists to look forward to on our return.