With exactly four weeks to the finals of the Ladbrokes Festival featuring the Gold Cup, the Summer Classic and the Trafalgar Cup, former MONMORE attached trainer Pat Rosney would appear to be well equipped for all three.
The performance of the meeting on Thursday was Rosney’s The Other Ben (Razldalz Jayfkay-The Other Peach, Jul 15) become a Gold Cup contender with a 28.15, one length victory over Farloe Thor (T2 6-1) and Droopys Two (T6 4-1).
The 3-1 winner wore white. .
The kennel’s Ladbrokes Puppy Derby finalist Cuba Libra (Premier Fantasy-Sive Dubh, May 15) looks set to tackle the Stayers Classic after a battling run to land a 630m sighter in 38.30 – on a decent track running normal.
He wasn’t the quickest on the night though with Ken Tester’s Ranchers Whison (Kingo-Ranchers Star, Sep 14) winning another division in 38.20 (+10), while Vicki Lea’s Coolavanny Bear (Tullymurry Act-Sarasota Ester, Feb 15) going quicker still with a 38.13 victory over Mustang Swift (T1 6-1) and The Other Ben’s kennelmate/litter brother Vatican Rocco (T2 5-4f). The winner went from trap six and started at 7-2.
The third Rosney winner was the debutant Charity Ikea (Superior Product-Charity Sue, Oct 15) who ran from trap three in a maiden.
The 2-1 joint favourite beat Zenas Mollie (T5) by three quarters of a length in 28.74 and now seems set to tackle the Gentleman George Curtis Trafalgar Cup, an 18 runner event for puppies whelped in September ’15 or later.
The competition has been once again put together by a consortium headed by the popular owner Kevin Perisi and carries a first prize of £2,000.
