Week ending 5th April 2009

Monday 30th

A busy week began with a 4am start to collect 8 new arrivals from the transporter. Among them are 1 or 2 very nice young dogs that certainly come with the 'could be anything' tag and it will be very interesting to watch them progress over the coming months. There are also a couple of proven sorts with good Irish form that should be competing in the top grades soon enough.
At the track we took 5 runners to Swindon for the BAGS meeting and returned with a very healthy 2 winners. Stanton Torres won the A5 in a personal best 29.55. Torres looked a useful grader when beginning his career but suffered a lack of confidence after some bad crowding in his early races but is now hopefully back on track. Class Eagle continued her very good recent form by winning the A4 in 29.72.

Tuesday 31st

A busy but pleasing trial session for the kennel which saw the return from season of Shelbourne Swift, Not Yet and the promising pup Stanton Bluebell. Bluebell is only a June 07 pup but had already won A2 in 29.10 before breaking in season and should make into a nice sort when fully matured. Ballinorig Maeve continued her excellent comeback from season with a fastest of the session 29.02. This girl really does look special.

Wednesday 1st

A good night at the track was again spoilt by the serious injury suffered to Stanton Tom. This June 07 pup who was held in high regard by us actually won his A3 contest in good fashion, posting a personal best of 29.24. However when I got him out of his kennel after racing he was on 3 legs. Examinations have shown that he a suffered a crack in a bone above the hock and a return to racing is only rated at 50/50.

A rejuvenated Stanton Ellie won again in the A4 when recording a decent 29.42. She will be trialling over six bends in the near future.

Thursday 2nd

Today we had our physio Robert Meek to the kennels. A total of 35 hounds were checked over, some with good news and others not quite so good!

Queen Merykara who went lame last week will be off the track for 3 months with her shoulder injury. Lady Jaro who was carried from the track on Saturday night is thought to have cracked her shoulder blade. Hopefully it's not as bad as it sounds and a return to racing is likely in roughly 4 months.

Better news though for Stanton Teddy. Teddy who broke his hock in his very first race for us some 7 months ago is progressing well. He's been very busy up the gallop recently and so far the hock has had no reaction. This fellow looked destined for Open Class when qualifying in 28.90 at Swindon. He was 3 lengths clear of some useful A1 dogs before going lame. He still managed to finish second in this race! Although we don't expect him to return to the same level as before we would be delighted with a safe return to racing for him.

Friday 3rd

An unlucky day for the kennel did not produce any winners but still saw some good performances. Oddson Foxy making her racing debut ran with real credit when finishing 3rd. Bolting from the boxes she showed fantastic early pace before losing her way around the first two bends. This young lady will not be long in opening her account.

Centenarys Jill also ran well when producing her fastest time for a while although this was not quite good enough and got picked up on the line.

The nights best performance came from Stanton Jerry. This June 07 pup was very unlucky in running in his A2 contest and would have won with a run. He was badly hampered around the first bend before unleashing his terrific pace down the back straight to get his head in front, but he had done all his running to get there and was just pegged back on the line. This pup will make top heat in time as there is plenty more left in the tank.

Saturday 4th

5 runners on the night produced 1 winner. Cheeseboard who ran with real credit on her debut last week flashed from the traps and led all the way to win her A5 in 29.45.

Tonight also saw the debut of October 07 baby Queue Pea Are. Although finishing last in his A6 race he showed enough ability to suggest that with more experience he will be more than capable of winning races.

Without doubt though the performance of the night came from Ballinorig Maeve. Having her first competitive start after being in season, she was beaten just a head in the A1 which was also the fastest race of the night. Given a run at the third bend I'm confident this girl would have won her race in good style. She still recorded 28.91 and was in front just after the line. Although it is early days for her she is without doubt the best prospect I've ever trained.