TOWCESTER TIPSTER CHALLENGE

For this week’s Towcester Sunday preview, we thought we might spice it up a smidge. In addition to Mark Pierrepont’s detailed race comments and selections, we wondered whether we could . . . . .  keep him on his toes?

But who would be up to the task?

There was clearly one outstanding candidate, Towcester RM Andy Lismore.

So how do you feel about turning this into a contest Big Lad?

“Bring it on he’s only a bluffer?”

In the opposing corners: Mark Pierrepont  Andy Lisemore

A full fourteen race card of opens at Towcester today with the highlight’s being the four quarter finals of the Category One Stadium Bookmakers Northamptonshire Sprint.  A card full of quality there really is no finer venue in the country for enthusiasts to enjoy the sport and that enjoyment has been enhanced further this week with the news that all owners of greyhounds competing in open class races at the track will be invited along with a guest to enjoy a free buffet in one of the racecourse’s superb executive boxes.  To claim this offer owners should email  [email protected] no later than 10am on the day of racing.

Quarter Final 1 of the Northamptonshire Sprint gets the afternoon’s action underway at 1.57pm.  John Mullins can get his afternoon off to the perfect start with his Knocknaseed Gem and Russian Blake looking set to fill the first two places.  Gem is looking to complete a hattrick with a trial stakes a couple of runs ago followed up with an impressive heat win last time out.  Black meanwhile was also a heat winner.  Just 2 spots separated the pair on their heat times and there is unlikely to be much between them as they come up against each other here.  Drawn wide apart this could actually be one of the best races of the day with the pair likely to go toe to toe all the way to the finish line.  Gem is selected to just about get the upper hand.

Quarter Final 2 at 2.12pm can go to Mark Wallis’s Early Knight.  Upon first watch last week it was slightly disappointing that he didn’t oblige having lay in what was a very hand pitch rounding the turn.  He went down in a photo finish to kennel mate Antigua Bigun but the winners time of 15.85 was far from pedestrian so maybe the defeat was as much to do with the improved performance of the winner as opposed to any perceived initial disappointment in the run of Knight.  He got to be sharply away though as Millhouse Turbo drawn to his immediate inside has seemingly found a little more consistency away from the boxes to go with his undoubted pace up.  Mr Roo ran up in this competition last year and looks set to qualify through the semi-final once again for Barry Johnson.  He’s running consistently well and on face value his time last week rates him a major player for this.  It does need noting though that last week’s heat was a 3-runner affair in which although in a lightning time by Shrewd Call he was well enough beaten in a race which with all due respect to the third dog he couldn’t fail to finish second.  The Chelms prefixed pair of Keith and Yes drawn to his outside for John Mullins aren’t likely to prove too much of a hindrance early on so long as he traps but he might not clear Jim Hayton’s inform Kirabilly Kathy quite so easily.  Not really a great race for punting in and no big surprise if it got a little messy and a shock arrived but Early Knight to win for Mr Roo filling the forecast spot.

Quarter Final 3 at 2.32pm and it’s difficult to oppose David Mullins Shrewd Call who despite reaching veteran status later this year is arguably in the best form of an excellent career.  Though last week’s fastest of the first round 15.56 was recorded in a 3-dog race he was simply flawless and once again came away from the traps in good style.  At times in the past it’s been his trapping which has proved his achilles heel and though he’s no always perfect he’s certainly a lot more consistent than he used to be.  From a good-looking draw in trap 3 he’s fancied to come away well again and make every post a winning one.  Mark Wallis’s Antigua Bigun is unexposed over these trips and though he’s to prove he can come away consistently in the style he did when winning last week’s heat he’s definitely a greyhound who could be making his mark this year over these sprint trips and more likely around the likes of Crayford and Romford.  He can fill the forecast spot.

Quarter Final 4 at 2.52pm could well be the final itself with 3 of the competitions leading contenders all lining up in opposition on the inside of the track.  I fancy that the move to trap 3 will prove beneficial to Patrick Janssens Crossfield Dusty and he’s selected to get the upper hand of what could be an epic tussle between himself and Peter Harnden’s Salacres Lee and Liz McNair’s Havana Class.  With Kevin Hutton’s bang in form Signet Mafia drawn on the wide outside this could very well be one of the races of day.

TRC Events & Leisure Maiden action over 500m at 3.11pm and a quality affair where the majority of the field will be progressing beyond this level fairly quickly.  Diane Henry’s Savana Spartacus  showed that pace wise he’s anything but ‘maiden clasks’ with a 2957 trial effort over course and distance last time out.  On Irish soil he did lack a little in the way of early but possessed enough stamina to win well from the back over 668m at Waterford.  He might find it a little tougher to reproduce his trial effort in against 5 other competitors but with any kind of run he’s going to be tough to hold.  Patrick Janssens has a nice type on his hands (not unusual) in the shape of Affleck Macy who has won 2 out of 3 since arriving here in the UK but she’s given me the impression that anything she achieved in her first few runs would undoubtedly be improved on in the coming months.  Definitely keep her onside as I’d be surprised if this bitch didn’t go on to do well particularly when seen lining up in bitch confined events.

TRC Events & Leisure Standard company over 500m at 3.28pm sees the return to action of Patrick Janssens highly regarded youngster Lautaro.  Off the card since being eliminated from the Puppy Derby here in December at the second-round stage connections will have high hopes that he can progress into a real competition greyhound capable of emulating the achievements of Derby winning kennel mate Thorn Falcon this year.  Falcon himself will likely have a say in that but in the form of Lautaro the kennel has a young greyhound on their hands who literally could be anything.  His trial at the end of January was just his first four bend run since that Puppy Derby elimination and is the only four bend run on his card this year.  To say he recorded 29.32 on a track rated normal at this time of year marks him out as something very special.  He’s drawn wider than ideal here that has to be said so he’ll need to be alert at trap rise but if negotiating the first two bends cleanly then he can soon begin to open up.  Sharon Thompson’s Master Ten Ten is a young pup I rate highly and is another who could well go on to do well in the Derby.  He’s been running well around here but his two most recent efforts in both a trial and a subsequent open race win at Monmore have been a little below the level showed in his previous Towcester efforts.  He’s an undoubted danger but may just find Lautaro a little too hot too handle in a clean run race.

TRC Events & Leisure Maiden Stayers action over 712m at 3.48pm and all eyes will be on the Pat Dalton bred Global Vocano  on her UK debut.  She rates Antigua Lava and Space Jet amongst her siblings and though her career was initially held up through injury as a youngster she’s now beginning to show some real potential of her own on the track.  In the hands of Pat Buckley when in Ireland she was a beaten finalist behind Dana Point in the 937m Marathon Open Final in mid-December and since arriving here in the UK at the kennel of Patrick Janssens she’s moved well initially in a sprint trial sighter of this track and then in a couple of 500m efforts.  Staying is this lady’s game though and if gaining a clear passage to halfway she can then begin to quickly move through the gears.  In what is a very winnable race it will be disappointing if she’s not thereabouts at the finish.  Paul Young’s Bubbly Tomahawk obviously has some staying ability within him but so far in his career is becoming too far detached in his race.  If he can get himself into contention a little earlier it would serve him well moving forwards.  His trial around Monmore latest (28.44 -10) was far from pedestrian and that kind of four bend pace would see him not too far off the pace in a race like this but he needs to show it under race conditions.

TRC Events & Leisure Stayers action over 712m at 4.08pm and Peter Harnden’s superstar stayer Salacres Pippy  will be looking to extend her superb course and distance record.  Setting a track record of 42.90 when dominating the 2021 Hunt Cup Final from the front back in November Pippy latterly routed Cesarewitch opposition at Crayford running out a 5 1/4 length winner of the final of that event there.  Though beaten latest in the first round of The Golden Jacket she got not run early and was crowded throughout.  From what looks a plot draw on the inside here she really should be adding to what is already a superb course and distance record.  Nightingale Don for John Mullins was also eliminated at the first-round stage of The Golden Jacket and can follow the selection home.

The TRC Events & Leisure Maiden over 500m at 4.28pm doesn’t contain anything like the class of the earlier division with most of these fully exposed as high-grade types.  That’s not to say it’s a poor race as it’s far from it and it’s competitive to boot.  Patrick Janssens Blackrose Tadgh though a November 2019 whelp is lightly raced for his age and won in the style of a greyhound with more to come when taking a course and distance A2 on his last start in an impressive 29.58 (+20).  The returned SP of 4/1 maybe also suggested that there might just be a bit more in the locker also.  He’s been a little hit and miss at the boxes so far but if coming away he can take the beating.

TRC Events & Leisure Standard company at 4.48pm can go to the well-drawn Richard Yeates stalwart Faughan Rebel.  He finished a good second here at the end of January and the trial at Nottingham since (29.95 +10) will likely have sharpened this November 2017 veteran up.  Sharon Thompson’s Sparta Master remains a solid type despite his also advancing years and although around the majority of tracks he would potentially prove a hindrance to Rebel there is no doubting that around here he’s more ‘middle’ than his usual ‘middle to wide’.  Rebel can take what is an admittedly tough race to solve.

TRC Events & Leisure Maiden Marathon action over 942m at 5.08pm and trainer Laurence Tuffin’s eyes must have lit up when he saw this event in the calendar.  His Sweet Leaf  is tailor made for this kind of event.  A solid performer who though falling just below the absolute top-class sector of the staying division she’s still a really decent sort with numerous lines of good class form in the book.  Any kind of break and Leaf gets on the skin early and makes all for a facile victory.  She rates the best bet of the day by quite some way.

TRC Events & Leisure Sprint action over 270m at 5.28pm and the race can go the way of Geraldine Kovac’s Ysbryd Gwynt  who from a quick look at his card wouldn’t be the easiest for Geraldine to keep 100%.  He trials as much as races and that is always a worrying sign although he now races for the fourth time in succession and comes into this race off the back of an impressive 6 length success over Nottingham’s 305m sprint trip.  The winning time in that of 17.85 would win this and though it needs noting that the race was hand timed the manner of victory does suggest that the clock is genuine at ‘a minimum’ with previous course and distance efforts here ‘with a clear’ suggesting that level of form is attainable.  Not a huge race for betting though.

TRC Events & Leisure Maiden Stayers over 712m sees the greyhounds lining up in what is the penultimate race of the day.  Richard Yeates’ Ranchers Tigger  has been crying out for this step up in trip for some time now and is selected but it’s to be said is done so with a note of caution.  She runs from traps four and five down at his home venue of Hove so it’s somewhat surprising to have seen her entered here as a rails seed.  She will undoubtedly look to move off from her initial track position but with a break that will hopefully be into clear space.  If laying handy in the early stages will take all of the beating.  Monmore’s Lee Field has correctly seeded his Bling Bling Tim as a middle seed and has been rewarded with trap 6 for that.  Maybe it’s time that the GBGB took a look at seeding protocol because in my eyes at least those presently seeding correctly are the ones on the wrong end of the stick when it comes to trap draws.

The final race of an excellent card at Towcester sees the runners line up for a TRC Events & Leisure Maiden over 500m at 6.02pm.  Patrick Janssens gives a debut to the very lightly raced Stamp Your Feet.  Just 4 runs on his card in Ireland he’s two wins on the card the first of which came in a very moderate A7 at Youghal in 29.16 and the second came 6 months later after a long period off the track when winning an A3 around the same venue in an excellent 28.62.  Given that Janssens keeps a small but select string at his kennel he’s an interesting type for him to have accepted so the chances are that this greyhound is at least believed to be a decent sort.  His sprint efforts in trials here (15.98 twice) suggest he’s a bit of early about him and his 30.43 effort in a 500m trial here at the end of January can be forgiven after a missed break and then checking at the sough.  He strikes me as the type of greyhound who could well take off a post a decent clock in a race of this nature and hopefully despite being drawn a little wide that day is today.