Bockos Doomie, Desperado Dan, Antigua Fire, Coolvanny Dylan and the exciting youngster Antigua Breeze. Just five of the runners lined up for Saturday’s latest round of Festival opens at Monmore. Each of the 14 one-off races is worth £500 to the winner, £100 for the runners-up and £60 for others. That is £11,060 on the night and the good news is, there are plenty more to come.
Racing manager Tony Williamson said: “The Festival races have proved very popular and attracted a high calibre of runner with trainers traveling from all parts of the country. So it is great to confirm that they will continue on a Saturday fortnightly basis into next year.
“We also need to remind trainers that the Ladbrokes Trafalgar Cup gets underway on November 23 and we have already seen a lot of exciting youngsters go around in trials.”
* One local runner to look out for on Saturday is Brian Thompson’s Bull Run Buff (Mall Brandy-Tullowmac Java, Sep 17) who has won her last four – an A2 and three A1s. A victory would take her prize money to £1,250 in just over a month.
On the graded strength, Williamson is planning to grade Kranky Scott on either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week for his 200th race.
Pam Burford’s Sep ’13 whelp (Shaneboy Lee-Kranky Rosaleen) has been on the graded strength for four and a half years. Having reached a peak of A3, he is now in A7 company but has three wins and three second places in his last nine races.
The Monmore grader said: “He is a very popular dog here and is in outstanding form at the moment.”
Roxhill Mystigue – photo Josh Sealey
For a different version of ‘impressive’, we need look no further than Roxhill Mystique (Laughil Blake-Bleisce Charm, Jul 16).
Paul Sallis’ home bred winner of the 2018 BGBF Puppy Cup at Sheffield, from a litter that includes open winners Skyfall Venon and Claudios Hero, was off the track from January to September recovering from a broken hock and shoulder problem.
She nevertheless qualified straight back into A2
Beaten in a photo on her return, she won second time out last week in a calculated 28.60.
Williamson said: “What a great effort by Paul and his team after such a long lay-off”
