It was a tough cross-country journey home from Newcastle to Leyland in Lancashire for Pat Rosney on Thursday night, but he was whistling a happy tune all the way through the snow and wind.
With four runners in the semi-finals of the Pinpoint Recruitment Maiden Derby – three of them in the same heat – the best he could hope for was three going forward and that is exactly what he got.
Star of the show was undoubtedly the bitch, Musical Storm, who clocked the fastest time of the night for the 480 metres with a 28.61 as she defeated kennelmates Burgess Oscar and Ascot Woodie quite comfortably.
The kennel’s other runner on the night Farran Heaslip finished strongly in the opening heat but Craig Dawson’s Valentia Frosty held on well for a length success in 28.71.
Rosney says: “They all ran well and we couldn’t have got any more through than we did. They have all come out of the race well and I am very pleased with the draw for the final.
“We were short of stayers for the Trainers’ Championship meeting and we bought Musical Storm to strengthen us up in that department as she has winning form over 686 metres at Limerick. We had problems early on when I qualified her for a race at Belle Vue on Oaks final night. She had been doing 27.60’s for the 470 metres there, but shouldn’t have run as she had been a bit sick. It was a mistake on my part.
“I then ran her at Nottingham and she ran flat and shortly afterwards was sick again so I treated her with antibiotics and the run on Thursday showed she was back to her best.”
The third semi-final saw Farloe Quest in top form as he led early and kept Blackjack Django at bay to score by a length and a quarter in 28.82.
“He’s only had a couple of runs for us,” commented trainer Kelly Macari, “and we had to rush a bit to get him qualified for this event. It is sponsored by Alan Findlay, who has a share in the dog, and we really wanted to support him although we could have done with getting another couple of trials into him.
“He did well on Thursday and is fine. We are happy with the draw but he has only had a couple of runs for us and we are still learning about him.”
The draw for Tuesday’s Sky televised final is: 1 Musical Storm, 2 Farran Heaslip, 3 Burgess Oscar, 4 Valentia Frosty (m), 5 Farloe Heaslip (m), 6 Blackjack Django.
Dual award winning greyhound Newinn Yolo missed his trial at Newcastle on Thursday night as trainer Pat Rosney decided to err on the side of caution because of the weather.
The greyhound voted “Standard Racer of the Year” and “Newcomer of the Year” has a busy campaign ahead of him and his handler is taking no chances, saying: “I looked at the results at Newcastle on Wednesday and the track was running 40 spots slow and that went up to 60 in the trials, but I should have known better as Newcastle is such a good surface.
“When I was talking to the lads up there before racing on Thursday they told me it was more the wind that was the real problem and I was sorry I had left him at home for if I had taken him up there I would have run him as the track was perfect.
“I could have done with the trial if he is to make it to the Juvenile Championship at Wimbledon on March 3, but there is no harm done. He will either go up to Newcastle next week for a trial or I will take him to Perry Barr.”
