“We weren’t planning to have any runners. We were supposed to be in Tenerife”
After a frantic December, Liz and Rab McNair were planning an easy January for the dogs and themselves. But those plans changed which meant six KSS runners arrived at Romford for the heats of the Coral Essex Vase and five will be back on Friday.
Rab said: “Lib and I talked about it and decided to delay the holiday. We did wormed them out and set about laying off most of them. But some of them hadn’t done a lot of racing recently so at the last minute we decided to enter for Romford.”
It worked out pretty well with Havana Top Note winning his heat in the fastest time of the night, 35.01. King Ezra, Queen Dusty and Queen Georgia all finished second, Queen Leona was third, with only Queen Pink (fourth) failing to make the cut.
Rab said: “We couldn’t do a lot with them. I managed to get a trial into most of them but couldn’t get another because of the four day rule. The ground was frozen solid so we couldn’t gallop them. Overall, I was delighted with how they ran because they would all have needed the run.
“I thought Top Note ran a great race. He has turned into a real warrior as he has got older. We had his sire Eden The Kid who was so similar. They take a while to really mature, well past two and a half, but he is a dog who never knows when he is beat.
“I don’t know whether Romford is really Leona’s track, but she didn’t want trap one. I think she will run a lot better out of the middle. As far as Dusty is concerned, I was surprised to see her come away as well as she did. I pretty much turned my back on her thinking, ‘they won’t pick her up’. When she got beat, I can only put that down to lack of fitness.
“But the one who I really think will have got the most out of it is King Ezra. I’d be really disappointed if he didn’t come on a bundle after that run.”
Another quartet of KSS hounds made their first appearance of 2024 in Monday’s trial session at Hove.
King Capaldi clocked the fastest time of the day, 16.17, followed by Queen Joni (16.20), King Sydney (16.33) and King Justin (16.59) all on -10 going.
Rab said: “It was the first run for a while for some of them. Capaldi in particular, came off with cramp. I had booked 480 trials for Monmore for Saturday but have cancelled them and will go back to Hove for another sprint.
“The plan then is for the Winter Derby at Monmore, probably with the same four that trialled at Hove. That is going to be such a top class competition. If you look at Patrick’s (Janssens) dogs, Tom’s good dog (Links Maverick), Richard’s dog (Churchfield Syd), you name it, they’ll all be there.
“Monmore is always the same because you get the best from the north and the south all competiting against each other.”
Of the rest of the KSS stars, Havana Bale Out has been on the injured list having had a toe joint removed, plans for her are still flexible.”
Havana Lover clocked 24.21 (-50) in a Crayford 380m trial on Tuesday night.
Rab said: “We know that she runs Crayford well (33.44, 33.45 -540m), so we’re thinking about the Golden Jacket with her. She stayed the Towcester 712m and the Perry Barr 710m well enough and they are tougher than the Crayford 714m I would say.”
