Yarmouth attracted 49 entries – one more than the requirement for the RPGTV 72nd East Anglian Derby which gets underway on Monday (draw live on the channel tomorrow).
The high profile entries include King Elvis, the recently returned Dorotas Del Mar, last years finalists Bubbly Bluebird and Bubbly Turbo and the fastest dog over course and distance this year, Sporting Dave.
The more intriguing entries include three runners who would be acknowledged as among the fastest sprinters on either side of the Irish Sea, Kilmore Lemon, Affane Party and Droopys Steel.
Lemon and Party both trialled over the 462m course this morning and clocked ‘ordinary’ times (for dogs of their calibre) of 28.35 and 28.12 (-10) respectively. Pat Buckley’s Irish entry Droopys Steel, who hasn’t raced over 525 since eliminated at odds on favourite in the semi finals of the Irish Produce Stakes, recently clocked a stunning 20.81 for 400 yards at Dundalk.
Yarmouth racing manager Marcus Westgate said: “It is our lowest entry but with no Charlie (Lister) or Mark (Wallis) due to their top dogs being injured, it wasn’t too bad. It will be interesting to see how well dogs like Affane Party and Kilmore Lemon get the trip. Their times this morning were not brilliant, but don’t read too much into that.
“For some reason that I can’t explain, there were a lot of slower times than we might have expected morning.”
