“If the bookies are making him a 6-4 chance, they deserve to be filled in.”
The stock of Fromposttopillar has probably fallen quicker than Coutts Bank in recent weeks.
The long time Derby ante post favourite went out in the first round, landed a heat of the Derby Plate but failed to fire in the final. He was then beaten in the heats of the Sussex Cup before landing the slowest of the three semi finals.
The sniping on his fall from grace has been incessant but Rab McNair remains convinced that his dog looks a good bet for the £10K Sussex Cup at Hove on Saturday.
Why?
He said: “I realised very early on that he doesn’t really like Towcester. Sure, he did some great solos (28.61, 28.66, 28.75 – the TR is 28.69), but in against other dogs he didn’t stride out properly. If you watch him, he kept changing his stride pattern.
“I had some reserveations about running him in the Derby Plate, but obviously it wasn’t just my decision. And even then I couldn’t be absolutely sure. But when I checked him over after the race, he had loads of bruising on the inside of his hind legs. It wasn’t as bad as a track leg, but it definitely wasn’t right. He had obviously been making contact with his from legs and that is how it looked in his running.
“We left him off with the Sussex Cup in mind. Lib and I went on holiday and while we were away, the kennel was badly hit by a virus. The whole kennel went down with it and I had to withdraw all the runners from the Juvenile Classic.
“I had hoped to give Postie a trial before Hove but there wasn’t time. Most of the dogs had the shits and some had really bad. It took about three weeks for the kennel to get over it.
“So we had to take a chance in the first round. He was fit enough to run, but could have done with that trial. By last Saturday, he was better still and he will be like a new dog for the final.
“He can still get beat, and I get egg on my face, but that is how I see it. I couldn’t be happier with him and if he does get beat, there are no excuses from me.
“He absolutely loves Hove and he is a top class greyhound. There was some criticism saying he didn’t pull away from Droopys Google in his last race. I’m not surprised. That Google is a decent dog who did the fastest time in the first round – quicker than Havana Bale Out – and he looks as though he will stay.
“Whatever the knockers say about him, they know Postie is top class. If he wasn’t, he certainly wouldn’t be favourite based on the first two rounds.”
Posttopillar already has three Cat One victories to his name. This is the second of them – in familiar surroundings last December.
Of course, if you want to wanted to give the dog his best possible chance. . .
“Richard Rees reckoned that I should send him to *Tucker for a week. He would be a certainty on Saturday.”
(A nickname for Tony Collett – as christened by Teresa Cahill . . . . . you’d need to ask her – Ed)
Betting: 6-4 Fromposttopillar, 4-1 Candolim Monsoon, Droopys Google, 5-1 Wasted Monday, 8-1 No Rush, 40-1 Stellas Fruity
Having also recovered from the virus, King Memphis – rated by Rab as ‘potentially the fastest we’ve ver bred’ – clocked 16.34 in a comeback sprint trial at Central Park on Tuesday.
Sister Queen Joni recorded 16.42 at the same session. The fastest sprint open win on the upgraded circuit is 16.35.
Rab said: “I’ll be looking to trial there at Swindon next week with the Produce Stakes in mind. We are looking at the Kings Memphis, Sydney, Coombs and Ezra, and the Queens, Joni Gerogia and Pink.
Before then, KSS are assembling “our biggest ever team for the Stayers Classic at Monmore”
The team leader is another triple Cat One winner, and defending champion, Warzone Tom.
At one stage, the veteran’s career appeared to be in doubt, though Rab thinks there is plenty still left in the tank.
He said: “I have to say, he looks to be in the best condition of his career. He looks absolutely fabulous at the moment and I think he can still produce a performance. Apart from those three Catergory One wins, there were others that he should have won.
“You ran a few stories about how I was struggling to get to the bottom of the dog but once we got there, the wins started to come. He is a great old dog and I think the world of him.
“We haven’t decided on the full team yet, but he will definitely be included along with Havana Lover, Havana Bale Out, King Ezra and Queen Pink.”
Expect to see quite a number of the kennel runners having solo trials from trap two in the coming weeks.
Rab said: “I have decided it is the only way to go forward. We’ve had so many dogs get trap five and six, that would prefer to be on the inside that I have decided I have no choice other than to do something about it.
“I noticed it during the Derby. There were at least two main kennels running dogs who wanted middle but had seeded them as railers. They were clearly moving off but nothing was said.
“We have a situation now where if you are seeded middle, racing managers won’t let you change your seeding. It has happened to me in the last week. But if you trial from trap two and go in a straight line, as most dogs will, they can’t really argue when you ask for a rails seeding.
“Yes, you might really want three or four, but you’d rather have one or two, than five and six. We’ve had too many of them just lately.
“The whole system is being abused but I have to do the right thing by my dogs.”
But surely the problem is exacerbated by there simply not being enough wide runners?
“That’s true. There aren’t. Somebody has to run from a trap that they don’t want. That is just obvious.
“But that doesn’t mean that trainers should abuse the system. Yes, me or anybody else.
“But it might bring things to a head. Within the last week, I’ve had a genuine middle seed drawn on the outside of a dog who would have definitely been a wide/middle seeed and he got no run at all.
“I can only see two ways forward. Either you scrap middle seeding completely, and make it a fairer playing field. Or you introduce ‘rails/middle and wide/middle’.”
