Perry Barr has seen a number of changes to their training personnel in recent weeks with four leaving the track and another three going the other way writes Jason Craddock.

Kevin Whitehouse has been tempted to go to Hall Green and left Perry Barr at the end of last month.

Also leaving to join Doncaster are Pauline Spragg, Peter Moore and Andrew Griffiths.

They are set to be replaced by John Rigby, Dougie Butler and Neil Chapman.

Racing manager Martin Seal said: “John and Dougie had taken sabbaticals from the sport but have decided to get back involved and are in the process of building up their kennel strengths.

“Neil Chapman, who is based in Markfield, Leicestershire has just decided to join us.

“He has a few promising pups and one open race runner on his strength.

To bolster the amount of races staged at the track each week, Seal continues to run several open races on each Friday programme.

He says: “The Friday open races continue to prove very popular, with competitive contests every week.

“We stage all types of races and plan to continue with regular open racing each week for the foreseeable future.”

General manager Martin Fennings continues to make steady progress in his recovery from heart surgery.

Seal says: “Martin is improving gradually each week and I don’t think it will be too much longer before he is back at work again.”

 

Justin Joe has been the dog to beat in the top grades over 480 metres in recent weeks.

Owned by Assembly Techniques Ltd and trained by Carol Evans he took time to find his feet.

However the son of Hondo Black has won two of his last three A1 races at the track in 28.65sec and 28.46sec and looked desperately unlucky not to complete a hat trick when beaten by Ballymac Bawna, which he had beaten in his previous race.

Those that have completed hat tricks at the Birmingham venue are Jayne Meek’s Ballymac Josie and Ballymac Ganya and also Rumble In Brum and Chantily Straits.

Ballymac Josie is an ultra-consistent blue bitch who won a D2 and two sprint opens. She has recorded between 16.21sec and 16.31sec in her last five races.

Ballymac Ganya, an early paced wide running bitch, has hit form landing an A2 and two top grade races. She boasts a best time of 28.65sec.

 

John Lambe’s Rumble In Brum has made steady improvement recently with an A4 victory and two wins in A3. His best time is 29.12sec.

At the other end of the scale is Sue Whitehouse’s Chantily Straits, who has bagged a handicap and win in A8 and A7. Her personal best is 29.59sec.