Last placed Yarmouth host the penultimate leg of the BAGS/SIS Track Championship (Easter region) this evening and they are not happy boys.
They feel annually disadvantaged by the timing of the event, which commences at the same time as the East Anglian Derby. They are still smarting at a ‘dead heat’ decision at Peterborough that they feel would have gone their way, but for a failed photo finish camera but most of all, they aren’t happy about seeding.
They complained about the seeding of at least two of tonight’s visitors whose trial exploits suggested they are wrongly seeded but were overruled.
Team manager Ben Mannall said: “It isn’t the first time we have brought up the subject. Last year at Towcester there was one race where a dog who had run from five and six throughout its career was given trap one and caused absolute carnage. But there are many other cases.
“I don’t know whether we can blame bad seeding for our first leg at Nottingham this year but we had a disaster with three dogs knocked over. It is certainly something I would like BAGS to look at when they review the event this year.
“We realize that we can’t catch Nottingham and Peterborough this year because we don’t have a lot of our better dogs qualified. To a certain extent that is down to the Derby, but also some of the trainers didn’t want to travel to other tracks and we decided to stick with those who had made the effort.”
Here are Ben’s thoughts on tonight’s team
6.33 (juveniles) Move Over Louie was the dog who dead-heated at Peterborough. He is a front runner who would ideally want T4. Swift Labros has probably the better chance. He ran very well at Doncaster and has since done a decent trial. He is definitely an improving young dog.
6.49 (bitches) Castledown Tess would have a chance if she produced her 28.13 (+10) run in September though Hollys Phoenix would have to be the first string. She is running on a lot better as she has got older and ran exceptionally well at Doncaster from a bad draw.
7.06 (dogs) I am not happy about the draw of a couple of runners in here including one of our own dogs Riverside Tadh who badly needs trap one. On the other hand, Rorys Way looks perfectly drawn in six. He is running out of his skin and must be one of our big three fancies on the night.
7.22 (sprint) Mines A Beer is not a pure sprinter and I would prefer to see him drawn one trap closer to the rail. There isn’t much between him and Gottabe Special who ran well at Doncaster though this isn’t our strongest heat.
7.37 (standard) Carrowkeal Monty is probably the second of our major chances on the night. He has been desperately unlucky so far. He made a dreadful start at Peterborough but ran on well for second and was disputing the lead at Doncaster when he was very badly bumped. And I wouldn’t rule out a decent run from Glenrock Jayfkay, though he would prefer trap four.
7.52 (stayers) I think we will struggle in this one which looks at the mercy of Alamar Raddar. Head Of Dromin won an S2 recently but would have to find a lot of time to be competitive here. Dark Crystal might of made a race of it on her form early in the year but she seems to have gone off the boil a little
8.07 (elite) Badabing is a class act and is our obvious ace card. The draw isn’t ideal but you can’t oppose him. Urban Road is a chaser, but he has been a great servant for the kennel and we would expect him to run on and collect decent points.
