It’s the start of a Bank Holiday weekend and what better way to get it started than with fourteen races at Romford tonight. With twelve open races on show from 7.03pm, the extended weekend starts then.
As ever there are greyhounds making their Romford debuts and stepping up in trip for the first time. True to form, yours truly has endeavoured to find out more about some of them including one from each of the three heats of the Romford Friday night 500 maidens.
Monmore trainer Emma Richards is becoming a Friday night Romford regular. She once again tackles the Friday night traffic to give her charges a run in Essex. Tonight she has six running at Romford but it is Mandeville Like that is the focus of this column. The October ’15 whelp runs in heat one of the Romford Friday night 500 maidens at 7.03pm over 400 metres.
The daughter of Droopys Scolari and Ilikeyou has been predominately running at Monmore since the closure of Towcester over 264 and 480 metres in graded affairs. The drop to 400 metres tonight could be ideal for the early paced sort.
Mathew Richards assistant trainer to Emma said: “She has been triffic at Monmore. Better over four bends then we thought she would. We started her over the sprint trip at Momore then stepped her up. Over 480 metres she just about gets home.
“400 metres will suit her better. She needs further then the sprint trip and less then the four bend trip at Monmore. 400 metres could be perfect for her. She has triffic early and is worth the try at Romford.”
On who he thinks of his runners could go best tonight Matthew said: “Mind The Pennies. He should come on for his run. I feel he is our best chance but I was wrong last week and is in trap one again. We have two in the race so it will probably be the other one now!”
Skybet make Mandeville Like 8/1 to win around Essex first time while William Hills make Mind The Pennies 14/1 to win the 9.08pm with some companies as short as 6/1.
Henlow trainer Jason Bloomfield has been making regular trips to Romford and continues tonight with four runners. It is Beautiful Chick who goes in heat two of the Romford Friday night 500 maidens at 7.17pm that is the focus though. The June ’16 whelp started off her career on these shores at Sheffield winning over 280, 480 and 500 metres in graded affairs.
The daughter of Droopys Cain and Jaytee Osprey has only had two races at Henlow since moving to the Bloomfield kennels and won one over 460 metres in A3 graded company. She has had a recent look over C&D in a trial clocking a calculated time of 24.55. She will be expected to improve on that time after look around the Essex venue.
Assistant trainer Kelli Windebank said: “She is really nice. We got her from Sheffield and are really pleased with her. We gave her a trial at Romford as we wanted to make sure she had a look around first. Her trial was fine. She has lots of early and 400 metres could be ideal for her. She gets 460 metres at Henlow.
“As we were planning to go to Romford we thought we would give her a go. Take a chance with her. We are counting on her getting into a lead. Trap four is okay for her but she doesn’t seem to mind what trap she runs from.”
On who of her four runners she thinks could go best Kelli said: “I fancy Diane (Savana Diane) in the standard final. Everyone laughed at me though. I still think she will go well. Jason (Bloomfield) thinks Savana Awesome and Beautiful Chick will go well if they trap.”
Skybet make Beautiful Chick a 4/1 shot to win on his Romford debut.
Local handler Phil Simmonds knows what it takes to win at Romford in open race class and tonight tries two of his charges at Romford for the first time tonight. The litter brothers are making their race debuts on these shores at the Essex track after a few runs in Ireland.
First up is Dower Product. The August ’17 whelp makes his race debut in heat three of the Romford Friday night maidens over 400 metres at 7.33pm. He is no novice with a few runs in Ireland at Youghal over 480 metres. At Youghal he reached the final of the of the Y.T.S Unraced stakes worth €750 where he finished second.
The son of Romeo Recruit and Dower Bud has had three trials over C&D showing improvement in each one. From his first trial to his last one he showed an improvement of twenty three spots from 24.52 to 24.29 and his split times improved by eighteen spots from 3.97 to 3.79. With his overall times and trapping improving each time it would not be silly to expect more improvement tonight if able to get a clear run.
Phil said: “He is probably not well drawn [trap five]. In Ireland and in his trials he is more rails to middle then middle to wide. It is not his ideal trap.
“He is a bit too fast to grade so have started him in opens. He has early to get him out of trouble. We are hoping he burstsout the traps and gets in front. We will have to wait and see.”
His litter brother Dower Tyson runs in the following race at 7.49pm for maidens over 400 metres and will be looking to deliver a knockout blow to his rivals. Like his litter brother he has had races in Ireland at Youghal and was in the same Unraced stakes competition finishing just one behind his brother into third in the finale.
Like his brother he has had three trials over C&D at Romford and similar to him improved with each one. From his first to his third he improved by fifty spots from 24.91 to 24.41 and his splits improved by twenty six spots from 4.03 to 3.77. Both are clearly heading in the right direction and further improvement can be expected.
Trainer Simmonds on Dower Tyson said: “Tyson is a little bit behind Product at the moment. We entered them in different races so they couldn’t be drawn together. Like his brother he went well in trials and is a bit too fast to grade. Trap four for him is possibly okay but he does ideally need to lead. We will see how he gets on.”
On both of them Simmonds said: “Both are in good form and you hopefully you will see a lot to come from them in the months ahead. The owners are from Manchester are coming down on Friday which is always fun.”
Skybet make Dower Product 5/2 and his litter brother Dower Tyson 9/4 to win their first races on these shores.
Henlow trainer Carol Grasso travels to Romford with two of her charges tonight but it is Lixnaw Fathead that is the feature of your favourite column. The August ’16 whelp is not only making his Romford debut but his six bend one as well. The son of Tyrur Big Mike and My Girl Lollypop certainly has all the makings of a stayer.
He has won over 460 metres at Henlow, 500 metres at Nottingham and 550 metres at Henlow all in open races. He has been running against good company and holding his own. In his last race he was beaten over 480 metres at Monmore by Sporting Dave, multiple category one finalist and winner of the Coral Sussex cup last year. His win over 550 metres suggests he will get the trip and if taking to Romford should not be a maiden stayer for very long.
Carol said: “He did good times in Ireland. We started to step him up but he acquired a hock injury which set him back. We have started to build him up slowly.
“He has not been around Romford before but ran Monmore really well first time up. He is not that quick out of the traps but he will get 575 metres. It is not a hard six bend trip and is pretty much on par with 550 metres at Henlow. When he won at Henlow over 550 metres he stayed really well.”
On his name Grasso explained: “The person who bred him in Ireland named him after his grandson. He is tall and thin and they joke he has a big head so named the greyhound after him in jest.”
Skybet make Lixnaw Fathead a 7/4 chance to win on his Romford and six bend debut.
Regular readers of this column may have had a nice little winner last week curtesy of Jinks Behind. Trained by Yarmouth’s Raymond Pleasants, she made all in a calculated time of 24.31 returning an SP price of 5/1. Not bad at all considering Pleasants himself in your favourite read said: “……She is quite capable of doing well, she has a good chance.” It’s all in your favourite column every Friday.
