King Kid (Droopys Scolari-Shaws Dilemma, Dec 14) finally showed Nottingham punters what all the fuss was about when landing a £500 puppy final on Monday night.
The Liz McNair British bred went into the Produce Stakes as an unraced pup and despite some excellent trials, including a 28.61 solo for Swindon’s 480 metres, he was unable to overcome his lack of experience. (He was made an evens favourite to beat Castell Henry in the first round).
He then switched to Nottingham, was again made an evens favourite when finishing second, beaten a length by Droopys Big Top. Race three was last week’s Nottingham 480 metre heats when he came from fourth place to land his heat in 29.00. If only he could get a clear run!
In fact, in the first few stride the 5-2 chance (T5) still showed his inexperience, however . . .
The winning distances was eight lengths from Snooty Blue and the winner’s time was 28.45, which is the joint third fastest time of the year. The track record is Swift Hoffman’s 28.07, recorded when he was 22 months old. On last night’s evidence, King Kid can be expected to find quite a bit more in his puppy year.
The Nottingham Puppy Classic gets underway on Monday August 15 and other hopefuls were on display during the meeting and before it.
Ray Pleasants’ All About Class (Godsend-Tyrur Latoya, Sep 14) made it five wins from his last six (the defeat was behind King Kid in last week’s puppy heats) with a 29.78 trialstake victory over the 500 metre course.
In pre-race trials, the fastest 480 winner of the year, Newinn Shadow (28.34) clocked 29.70 for the 500m while recent Hove and Sunderland puppy winner Bubbly Bluebird did 29.82.
