Clearway Kayla who has four of her pups debuting at The Valley today with Rob Short and connections
The inaugural meeting at The Valley greyhound stadium takes place this morning with the venue racing under GBGB rule for the first time.
A ten race card gets underway at 1137am with the last race of the day scheduled for 211pm. The meeting begins and ends with A4 and D3 graded races respectively with eight ‘opens’ making up the remainder of the card. Runners for the graded races at the track will come from four trainers namely Charlie Darch , Martin Thomas , Leigh Williams and Rob Short.
Rob Short who makes the switch from Swindon stadium to The Valley said: “I’m so pleased to be back at The Valley a track which my family have a long and proud history with.
“Once it had been announced that Dave Barclay was purchasing the track and planning on a switch to licensed racing it was always the plan that I’d be attached here.
“Obviously the travelling time for myself and our runners is minimal now and that can only be of benefit.
“There were some teething issues with the lay out of the circuit at the time of the sale but I’ve got to say the team have put in some tremendous work since then and the track has been running superbly at recent trial sessions with the very vast majority of the runners handling the circuit well”.
Rob has nine runners on the card including four British Bred pups from the June 2022 mating of Ballymac Bolger and Clearway Kayla. Owned by the Castell Racing Club a syndicate which comprises Johnny Winch , Mark Gilbert , Eddie Goodall , Gerald Blackburn , Lynn Short and Rob himself Kayla was a successful performer on the track winning opens over both four and six bends.
Here Rob talks us through his runners –
11.54 I’ve two runners in this race which are CASTELL NIA and Castell Spotty who is one of our four home bred pups making their debuts. I’ve a good fancy for Nia who with one of her decent starts should take a lot of beating. Spotty as with the others on debut today should benefit greatly from the experience but is a nice type whose been handling the track really well and it shouldn’t be too long before he’s winning.
12.11 We bought CASTELL JUDGE at the Oxford sale earlier this year and though he initially disappointed me a little he seems to be coming to hand nicely. He won well on his last start at Swindon and really seemed to handle the track nicely on what was his first sighter in a trial on Saturday. I’m expecting a big run from him and with a decent start he should again as with Nia in the previous race take a fair amount of beating.
Clearway Kayla’s pups to Ballymac Bolger as very young babies. Today four of the British Bred’s make their debuts.
12.27 We’ve Castell Queen here who is one of the debut pups. We’ll just keep her to sprints for a little while to allow her to gain experience so in reality I’d not be expecting her to win today but if she shapes with promise we’ll be more than happy. It’s all a learning curve for her and the race will do her good.
1244 We’re doubly represented here with Castell Paddy and Good Quest. I’ll be happy enough to see the pair run well but they look up against it if the trap 4 runner Tintown Noah shows his best form which would be well up to winning a race like this.
102 Castell Abe is the most promising of our pups from the Kayla litter and we expect him to make into a real nice type. Again as with the others though he’ll need the experience. Plenty to come from him in the coming weeks and months though so definitely one to put into the notebooks. Craiobhin Skip looks a good thing to land this for Steven Howard in my eyes
1.37 We’re represented by CASTELL MAX who won well last time out at Swindon and will hopefully have a chance here too in what’s a winnable race for him. All being well he could round off a good start to life at The Valley.
2.11 Our last runner of the day is Castell Pam and again one of our home bred youngsters making her debut. Hopefully she goes well but again the experience can only serve her well for the weeks and months to come.
