Joe’s Nottingham Tips
***9.28 Nottingham – Vale Bluebell (4pts) 4/5
**9.11 Nottingham – Salacres Tipster (3 pts) 5/4
*8.19 Nottingham – Crafty Pardiso (2 pts) Evs
A handful of open races over various distances at Nottingham this evening including two Arc National Sprint Trial Stakes.
The nap of the evening is trap one Vale Bluebell in the Arc Stayers Trophy at 9.28pm. She beat Salacres Cath half a length last week over the 730m trip catching her late on. So, although this evening’s trip is 50m shorter, I fancy Vale Bluebell to turn extremely handy and have too much for her rivals including Salacres Cath and Wolf Moon.
The next best of the evening is trap two Salacres Tipster in the Arc Standard Trophy at 9.11pm. An impressive winner last Monday, Salacres Tipster can follow up by getting the better of Eclipse finalist Sambar Kian who is drawn immediately outside the selection in trap three. I fancy Salacres Tipster to lead and make all.
The third selection is trap one Crafty Pardiso in the Arc Standard Trophy at 8.19pm. Another greyhound running well in victory and defeat, Crafty Pardiso was impressive last Monday when landing the ladies’ trophy final over 480m at the track. The extra 20m wouldn’t be a concern as it will allow Crafty Pardiso more time to extend her lead heading into the bend, with a longer run to the corner. I fully expect Colin Wilton’s bitch to lead and dominate proceedings.
Clues for the bet365 Puppy Oaks at Towcester
Ballymac Lucia goes fastest in four trial stakes for the upcoming category one.
After chasing home Bombay Birch in all three rounds of the Puppy Derby, Maxine Locke’s daughter of Ballymac Cashout got off the mark in the UK at the fourth time of asking. She already had the fourth quickest time of the year over 570y at Tralee, before arriving. She took advantage of the step down into bitches only company, clocking 29.06.
Fabulous Livia produced a very smart 29.21 from the front for Laurence Tuffin to clock the second fastest trial stake. She came home five lengths to the good over Droopys Flare with the eye very much drawn to the runner-up who made up ground hand over fist late on for Sean Parker.
It was Parker who opened the card up with a winner courtesy of Droopys Isha. Formerly with David Mullins, she already had a 35.86 on her card over 575m at Romford. After turning in front, she proved too strong for her rivals in 29.50. Parker added a second win later on the card with Calgray Gunner.
Although Avarua Flojo’s 29.79 was the slowest of the four trial stakes, she produced a notable run to pick up Queen Cilla. Liz McNair’s charge showed electric early pace but was run down in the shadow of the post by the Richard Rees-trained runner.
The most impressive winner of the afternoon was Carol Weatherall’s The Other Boss. A lightning 4.04 sectional put him ahead early and he just kept going further clear to win by 12 lengths in 28.80. Not So Slow once more proved well named, landing the closing sprint for Patrick Janssens in 15.61.
Mark Wallis picked up a double on the day courtesy of Bombay Nutty (29.26) and Kilmore Dancer (29.45). Other open winners on the card were Savana Vesuvius for Diane Henry in 30.08 and Beaming Outlaw for Frank Gray in 29.07.
Four up for Ricky Holloway on Sunday
Harlequin Ernie wins his fifth straight over the sticks.
It was an 11th win in total for Harlequin Ernie, a fair return given that he didn’t get off the mark for his career until June 16 of this year. The 37kg dog ran out a five-length winner in 23.68. Four From Two won the 540m hurdle in 34.10, Miss Syd won her 12th open of 2024 in 45.57 and Slick Sabo closed the evening out with a 34.35 success.
There was a double for Dave Lee courtesy of All Along (33.83) and Ministing (23.16). The latter has only had 11 starts, picking up 23.15 and 23.18 wins as well. Barry O’Sullivan got the evening started with Devon Dolly taking the lead late and then having to hold on in 23.52.
Sussex Lily was the biggest priced winner of the night, a 9/1 scorer for Jamie Kingsley. Jim Reynolds got on the scoresheet courtesy of Kanturk Fuisce who produced an electric 3.44 split to put a maiden sprint quickly to bed. Paul Donovan’s Tintreach Tulip and Claude Gardiner’s Sweeter Still were the other winners.
Sheffield doubles for Debbie Calvert and Kevin Ferguson
Ferguson is now just one shy of a half century for the year.
The Acomb prefix is enjoying a spectacular year. Wins for Felix (28.85) and Irene (28.93) continued that on Sunday afternoon. The former picked up his 20th win of the year, the third most in the country.
Debbie Calvert was responsible for the sprint and stayers winners on the card. Dannys Flyer won the former in 15.99 with Killduff Sasha taking the latter in 39.31 on just her second start over six bends.
Liz McNair made the long trip north worthwhile with King Jackson taking home a win. He was successful on his race debut in the opening round of the Puppy Derby at Towcester, he was again a slick scorer, clocking 28.82.
Keefill Maverick had to work hard to run down Acomb Johnny over 480m but still produced a solid 27.90 from off the pace for Phil Milner. Gwyneth Rees won the other open on the card with Easy Ride Bo in 29.11.
Stats
- Hazelgrove Flash – 7.16 Kinsley – 7/11 from trap three.
- Beefast Dora – 8.52 Harlow – 6/10 when clad in stripes.
- Sambar Kian – 9.11 Nottingham – 7/12 when drawn in trap four.
Opens
Friday: Romford
Sunday: Crayford
