Millwards Teddy made the perfect start to his defense of the Pinpoint Yorkshire St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday writes John Forbes.
The hot ante-post favourite for the Category One competition, he was 2-1 on to land his heat and he did it in good style, weaving his way through the field to take control off the final turn and running on to beat Romantic Rambo again by three and a half lengths in 41.32 for the 661 metres – two spots quicker than his fastest time of the year in 2014.
Trainer Dean Childs said this morning: “The dog is fine and it is good to make such a good start to the competition again. He likes Doncaster and he is a very intelligent dog and a good tracker like his father (Westmead Hawk). He has the five in the semi final and while we might have preferred the six he handles that box well.”
Toottoottootsie cashed in on a decent break to move into pole position entering the home straight for the first time in heat two and she carried on strongly to finish two and threequarter lengths up on Oneco Sky in 41.68, while Liosgarbh Charl caused an upset in the next where he also hit the front at the second turn and maintained the gallop to the line where he was a length and a quarter clear of Swift Curie in 41.71.
Farley Rio, third in last year’s final, had to pull out all the stops in the last of the qualifiers, clinging on by a head from the challenge of Romany Rouge in 41.64.
The draw for Saturday’s semi-finals are: 1st Semi – 1 Swift Curie, 2 Liosgarbh Charl, 3 Gleneagle Tina (m), 4 Kanantu (w), 5 Romany Rouge (w), 6 Oneco Sky (w)
2nd Semi – 1 Pinpoint Brandi, 2 Farley Rio (m), 3 Romantic Rambo (m), 4 Toottoottootsie (w), 5 Millwards Teddy (w), 6 Droopys Tamera (w).
