It was great to see Hoffman vindicated by winning the Betfred Select last night. The dog had been crabbed a lot on the forums about being a trial specialist, though it all seems to have gone a lot quieter this morning.
Hoffman was four spots outside the 500 metre record but I think he would have broken it if he had been drawn six. The logic is this. Last week he did 29.08 off a 4.86 sectional. This week, he did 29.20 off a 4.98 sectional. In other words, winning line to winning line, his times were identical.
We know that he would rather not have a dog on his outside and I tried to fool him. I noticed that Mick, with Viking Jack, was hanging back before we put them in the traps and I made sure Hoffman was loaded up before he saw the dog on his outside. Whether it made any difference though, I really don’t know.
I had a drink with the dog’s owner Paul (Scott) after racing but we didn’t talk about the future. Personally, I wouldn’t be keen to go for the Irish Derby for a variety of reasons. I do have a couple of options in my mind as to where I would like to run him next, but everything will depend on the condition of the racing surfaces at the respective tracks at the time. If they are bad, we will leave the dog on his bed.
Nottingham’s going was impeccable last night. I did have a few nervous moments early in the meeting thinking that the wide runners weren’t performing, but the more I thought about it, I realised most of the fancied dogs were drawn on the rails anyway.
Camp Joker won the puppy open in the fastest time of the night for the 480 which was a real bonus. He didn’t run at all well in the final at Sunderland and I have no real explanation. Last night he was superb, even coming from the back.
I have always wanted to run him in the Puppy Classic but wasn’t sure until last night whether he would stay the 500. That is no longer a concern.
I will be setting off at 11.45am tomorrow with our two runners for the Coral Sussex Cup. It is a long way but I absolutely love the place; probably my favourite track in Britain or Ireland.
The two dogs, Vatican Gurkha and Burgess Oscar are drawn one and two in the same qualifier. I genuinely don’t have a preference as to which, if either, can make the final. Certainly, the one who leads up will have the much better chance.
Even then, they have a real tough competitor on their hands in Diego Flight, who always seems to find what is necessary. He is a dog I like a lot. The only thing that does surprise me is the price of Gurkha – 20-1. He was only just beaten by Diego Flight last week and still recorded 29.68 (515). Oscar was slower but is half the price.
Whatever the result, I won’t be short on time to think about it. Last week, with motorways closed and other problems, I didn’t arrive home until 3.45am.
