The racing surface was the star of the night at Nottingham on Monday with a string of fast times normally associated with a midsummer card.
None emphasised that better than puppy Troy Bella (Tyrur Big Mike-Fire Height Brid, Feb 16) whose hat-trick of 225m victories at Romford was extended to a 230-1 four timer.
David Mullins’ 36 kilo fawn and white – the gender clue is in the first name, not the last, held off Fortunate Star by a short head in a very respectable 17.56 for the 305 metres. (Roxholme Hat’s fastest of year in 2017 was 17.36). The other sprint head went to Finallyfoundyou (Ballymac Vic-Cookie Cashin, Dec 14) in 17.84.
Pushing Troy very hard for the ‘top performance’ award was Sneezys Martin (Tullymurry Act-Dynamic Trend, Oct 14) with a 28.36 run for the 480m. (Only Newinn Shadow and Droopy Gold went quicker in 2017.
The night also featured a notable double for Lowgate litter brothers Malfoy (Windy Millar-Hawks Dutchess, Aug 14) and Lucius with times of 29.63 and 29.65 (+70) respectively for the 500m.
It was Lucius’ first victory since June 2016 – a losing sequence of 51 races!
