East Anglia ruled in the Blue Riband semi finals. Four of next Sunday’s six qualifiers will make the Towcester journey from Suffolk with Romeo Command and Chelms Sonny representing Norfolk after three competitive semi finals that went largely to form. Unlucky hound on the day was Swift Iconic who dead heated with Fabulous Sonique and missed out on the toss.
The star of the day was Romeo Command with another emphatic sub-29.00 victory. We’ve previously written about his UK record of 21 wins in 30 races. But how about this for a fact? He has raced on 24 occasions over the Towcester 500m course. He has won 21 of them and finished second three times – once in the Racing Post Juvenile, one in a Derby semi final and once in a Derby final.
Another interesting snippet concerns the line-up of three British breds, Romeo Command and Fabulous Sonique (bred by Dave Firmager) and joined by Signet Goofy, bred by Kevin Hutton. This is Goofy’s sixth Category One final, he has one win and two Cat Two wins on his CV thus far.
(Videos to follow)
In addition to the run of Romeo Command on Sunday, Patrick Janssens will have been delighted with the pre-meeting trial session.
Although he hasn’t raced since October, the Oxford and Perry Barr record holder Coolavanny Shado has been kept ticking over. In a solo trial, he clocked 15.47 for the Towcester sprint, just five spots short of Flashing Willow’s 270m track record. Kennelmate Slick Sabo (Glenvale Bill) also impressed with a 15.67 run. Quarteira landed the day’s sprint open in 15.75.
Apologies for this slightly briefer than usual Monday Round Up – normal service will resume tomorrow
