Week Ending 17th February

Monday 11th
1 winner from our 5 runners this afternoon. Smoothoppa Razor led at the first bend to win a good A2 in 28.91. Opera is improving nicely now, she's a full sister to Alarming Jacks, and it'll be interesting to see how she handles A1. Chances are Opera will run in the upcoming bags competition.
Tuesday 12th
A very good trial session for us with all 8 dogs going well.
Hey Diego recorded a fastest of the day 28.99. Recent arrival, Southern Angel, really impressed with her 16.49 sprint effort and looks a nice prospect. Unraced pups, Wagama (17.35) and Nickys Love (16.92) both chased well and will be stepped up to four bends next week. Rainham Chris (16.50) and Gortkelly Hudini (16.90) both continued their comebacks.
Laurels 3rd, Taranis Rex, was given his first spin after a couple of months break and moved well to post a fastest of the day 16.31.
Recent arrival, Tibetan Skies, was a little slowly into stride but flew off the 2nd bend to post a good 16.36.
Wednesday 13th
Slippery Patch took advantage of a drop in class to win the 509m open race at Swindon this evening in great style. Poorly housed in trap 6, patch showed great track craft to stay out wide at the bend and flew down the back to take the lead up before running right away on the run in.
Droopys Harper ran with real credit in the 685m open. He worked hard to hit the front at the 5th bend before just tiring coming home to finish 2nd.
Thursday 14th
Alarming Jacks ran a superb race to win her bitches maiden open at Hove tonight. She was a little slowly into stride but flew to the bend and was very brave to take the lead up before stretching right away down the back straight to win well in a very good 29.94. She'll now be given a couple of A1's at Swindon in order to qualify her for the upcoming Bags competition.
Barnish Booth and Forest Mollie both ran well enough to finish 3rd in their races. Mollie doesn't seem to suit the big gallop of Hove and she'll be moved to a tighter track next time.
Friday 15th
Two winners from today's meetings at Swindon.
Scobys Flash just got the better of Vevas Tiger down the back straight as she went on to win her A3 nicely. Sligo Mick broke well and led all the way to win his A2 in good style.
We were out of luck at Romford as Jolly Fagan and Gemstone Annie both got trouble. Five Alley Pub and Ding Hero both ran well in defeat though as they finished 3rd.
Saturday 16th
Firstly to Crayford where Crinkill Jewel and Pony Bride were in the Golden Jacket Final. Both the girls ran their hearts out for us to finish a close up 3rd and 4th. Pony Bride flew home after crowding at the third bend and was a shade unlucky not to get up for 2nd place. Crink's ran a very good race to finish 4th but once the favourite got out on the bunny it was always going to be virtually impossible to get by him. It was a great achievement for the kennel though to qualify 2 dogs for a category 1 final and marks a great start to the year for us.
We were out of luck at Coventry in the evening as we had 3 beaten favourites. Swords Brett was slowly in to stride and got very badly crowded on the 2nd and his race was over.
Jolly Bullseye got done straight out the boxes which effectively ended his chances. The dog inside of him is clearly a middle runner and was poorly seeded on the rails. Jolly won't be returning to Coventry again and will be given one more race somewhere else before heading to Wimbledon for a trial.
Swords Messi flopped out the boxes but flew to the bend and just got his head in front at the third bend but had done a lot of running to get there and faded away to finish 3rd.
We had a fairly good night at Swindon though as we managed a couple of winners.
I was delighted to see Mullingar Mer get her head in front for the first time since suffering a very bad fall at Coventry a few months back. She showed good pace to lead at the 2nd bend before going on to beat kennel mate, Inismore Impact by a couple of lengths in 28.96. Hopefully this would have done her confidence some good.
Gurrane Rocket won at the first time of asking for us as he led all the way to win his A1 by 1 length in 28.89. Rocket was very determined and did well to hold the strong running Ardmayle Mohamed off the last bend. Rocket is a lovely dog in the kennel, a real gentleman, and has some lovely early pace. He'll be a very good addition to the team.
Tibetan Skies impressed in a pre race trial as he beat kennel mates, Swift Volvo and Active Lark by over 10 lengths in a good 28.45. He'll more than likely head to Hove to complete his qualifying trials.

In other news...
We've just secured a deal to bring a highly promising dog to the kennel who's just competed in the final of the big unraced stake at Clonmel and he's been purchased with a view to being a competition dog. He's a marvellous prospect and more details will follow in a couple of weeks when he's offered for sale.