Week Ending 30th September

Monday 24th
Just the one winner at today's BAGS meeting. Off The Radar got his first win for the kennel as he led all the way to win his A2 in a good 28.92. Radar is a lovely dog who's had his fair share of niggling injuries but hopefully he'll get some consistent racing now.
On to Nottingham this evening for the first round of the Produce Stakes. We had 3 in the competition and managed to get two through to the next round.
Gemstone Annie won her heat in good style after running a terrific first bend. Gemstone Jack also qualified as he finished a strong running 3rd. Hey Diego got it all wrong at the boxes and got plenty of trouble in running as he finished a disappointing 5th.
Tuesday 25th
A very good trial session for us this morning at Swindon. Slippery Patch recorded a very pleasing 28.25 in a solo and this blowout would have done him the world of good.
Ring The Alarm clocked 29.27 in her first four bend trial since returning from seasonal rest.
Recent arrivals Rainham Chris (29.43) and Stanton Apollo (29.63) both went well enough in their first four bend trials for us.
Riverdale Spiros (16.38), Mercurial Lady (16.39), Malbay Kesha (16.34) and Motor Home (16.63) all went very well in their sprint trials.
Butchers Bounty left the kennel today to continue his racing with Jim Little. Butch has been a wonderful dog for us but we needed to free some space for some new dogs coming in.
Wednesday 26th
3 winners this evening at Swindon from our 5 runners. Fishersmans Leah just got up on the line to win her A2 by a head in 28.99. Glendine Girl quickly hit the front and led all the way to win her A4 in 29.39. Liscrea Premier led around the third bend to win her A2 well in 29.02.
16 dogs were put through their paces on the gallop with a couple of new dogs we've got ready to come through looking very impressive.
Kennel legend, Stanton Jerry, left us today as he went to his forever home. Jerry has been a wonderful dog to train and gave us some great times. I'll always remember the night at Hall Green when he won his maiden 480m open race by nearly 9 lengths. I only decided to put Jerry up there that night as an extra runner to keep Superstar Lily company,  her race didn't fill and we had to make the journey with just Jerry in the end but he ran his trademark race as he put the shoulder in at the first and went onto win easily. We all stopped for pizza on the way home and I'm sure Jerry felt like a hero! He had a great night and won well but we decided to leave his open race career at that and he retired with it 100% intact. Jezza has a lovely home now and hopefully we'll all get to see him again on a Sunday.
Thursday 27th
A disappointing night at Henlow as Taranis Rex failed to make it through the first round of their Derby. In all honesty he ran pretty flat but the main thing is he's safe and sound and we'll look for a minor open next time out for him. Our race was won by former kennel dog, Yeatsie Boy, who ran a terrific race to lead all the way. Fingers crossed Yeatsie can go all the way, he's a lovely dog.
Friday 28th
A busy day for the kennel with 3 meeting's to attend.
First we'll go to Nottingham where both Gemstone Jack and Gemstone Annie qualified for the semi finals of the Produce Stakes in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Jack seems to be improving every time he goes round there and ran a good race in defeat again tonight.
Just a couple of winners at Swindon. Winetavern Tadgh got a much deserved win in his A2 as he beat Butchers Bounty in a good 28.87. Hey Rodrigo won his first race back since lameness as he led all the way in his A6. This lad suffers badly from cramping but seems to be going the right way now.
Saturday 29th
2 winners from our 7 runners this evening at Swindon. Ding Hero reversed last week's form with Hiding Escort in the 509m open as he cracked out and led all the way. Henry ran a blinder in behind from a bad draw and is in great form at present.
Penskey Rain and Gemstone Billy ran very well in the 685m open to finish 2nd and 3rd. The 685m on a fast track is a bit sharp for Penskey nowadays but he's still running with great credit at over four years old. Gemstone Billy has taken the step up to open class very well and gives the impression that the further he goes the better he'll get.
Forest Ted won the A1 as he pinged the lids and led all the way to record 28.75. Droopys Harper ran another good race in behind to finish 3rd.
Ring The Alarm ran well in her first race back since season to finish 3rd.
Crinkill Jewel contested the first round of the Kent St Leger at Crayford this evening and safely made it through to the semi finals as she finished 2nd. Crink's had every chance and was beating by a better dog on the night but ran well and should improve further for another look at the track.
Sunday 30th
A great way to end the month with 3 winners from 6 runners at Coventry tonight.
Glenbane Air, who has been in terrific form, got the night off to a flyer as he won division 1 of the sprint. Barney didn't ping this week but ran a very brave 1st bend to push his way through on the rail and went on to win in a photo.
Mullingar Mer quickly made it two winners as she won division 2 of the sprint. Titch as she is known is a real pocket rocket and she broke fairly well tonight and showed great pace going in to the corner to take up the lead. She ran the track very well and really powered off the last bend to win going away in a good 15.91.
Pony Bride was an unlucky loser as she flopped from the boxes and gave herself an awful lot to do. She started to motor going in to the 5th bend but had a wall of dogs in front of her and was forced to check. She rallied again and was only beaten a couple of lengths in the end. She'll be worth sticking with next week now she's had a look round.
Barnish Booth and Inishmore Impact both missed the breaks and got their fair share of trouble as they finished down the field in their respective 485m races.
Slippery Patch completed the night's work though as he won division 3 of the standard. Patch trapped OK but paced up nicely to turn 2nd entering the back straight. He looked for a gap on the rail that wasn't there and got held up in running a little bit but stayed on well enough to win on the line. It was nice to get a first win under his belt and he'll improve greatly for the race.
This completed a brilliant month for us as we finished with 44 winners, 18 of these were in opens.

In other news....
The next BAGS intertrack will soon be upon us. We had great success in the last one and a lot of fun but we're slightly disappointed to only be in a group of 3 with Oxford and Poole this year. Neither track will really suit our type of dog so most of the new dogs we could have rushed through for the the start of the competition will go on to other things now but we should still have a few to put forward if all is well nearer the time. A few possibles could be; Hoots Mon, Boynepark Joe, Sligo Mick, Black Beach, Droopys Harper, Riverdale Spiros, Express Fantasy and Mercurial Lady to name a few.
A few of our nice new dogs will be ready to trial in the next couple of weeks. We've been in no rush with one or two of them but they've been kept ticking over on the gallop and one in particular really does look a bit special.
Portavoe Lass heads to the vets next week for another x-ray on her hock. It's expected that we should get the all clear for her to return to training and the St Leger at Wimbledon would be a possibility if she's ready in time.