The 2016 BAGS/SIS Track Championship gets underway a month today and Belle Vue’s Dave Brayshaw already has a list of ‘probables’ and ‘possibles’ for his team selection.
Heading the four bend challenge is Gary Griffiths’ recent arrival Ballyveery Sean (Ace Hi Rumble-Ballyveery Girl, Jul 13). The former Hove top heat sprinter has gone from strength to strength at the Zoo with four wins and two seconds in his last six outings including a recent 27.72 for 470 metres.
Over the 590m course Tibetan Sunrise (Kinloch Brae-Breeze Hill Juli, Sep 12) has been the outstanding performer in recent weeks having completed a five timer over four/six bends before being turned over by Ellaha Shark (Scolari Me Daddy-Millroad Larky, May 14) at the weekend.
Brayshaw said: “We have a bit of thinking to do because Tibetan Sunrise is at the the end of her stamina after 590 metres and I don’t know if Ellaha Shark would get much further so we might be looking to a couple of the S2 runners like Laurens Jet and Kilahagen Impact for some of the away legs. We will just trial them at Sunderland which is our first match and see how they go.”
One potential member of the team may not even have even raced so far. Skippys John (Tullymurry Act-Best Special, Nov 14) had no form whatsoever prior to a first sprint at the track in 15.56 and he has since soloed in 28.03 (+10) for the 470m.
Brayshaw said: “June (McCombe) tells me that he hasn’t even had unrecorded trials in Ireland so he looks exceptional. It is a bit early days, and he would need a couple of races behind him to qualify, but he looks an exceptional find. We have also pencilled in Shaneboy Mort as a potential runner in the ‘elite’ race.
“We are all looking forward to this year’s competition. We would have fancied ourselves to get a qualifying place along with Newcastle but Sheffield have come in to replace Doncaster and that makes it a lot tougher.”
Away from the flat runners and Great Grandad (Grandad Pat-Alices Clodeen, Jun 12) has been dominating over the jumps with a recent five-timer.
Brayshaw said: “He seems to run well in little spells. Prior to those wins he’d been through a quiet period but back in February/March he had won five from six. But he might have a new challenger on his hands in Classy Blacky (Milldean Panther-Tyrur Ayda, Mar 14) who was disqualified on the flat but did a 28.74 calculated in his last hurdle trial. We will now have to see if he can reproduce it in races.”
