Week Ending 28th April

Tuesday 23rd
For the first time in a couple of years we had runners at Sheffield with 3 dogs in the heats of the 3 Steps To Victory competition.
Tibetan Skies ran his best race for a while as he just missed out on a qualifying spot. He was crowded straight out the boxes and at the bend but did a huge amount of running coming home and was the fastest non qualifier of all the heats.
Ding Hero and Hiding Escort were both out of luck in their heat as they both met plenty of trouble.
With no trial session at Swindon this morning, the gallop was put to good use with 16 dogs put through their paces. Gurrane Rocket and Portavoe Lass went well as they begin their comebacks from injury.
Wednesday 24th
An early morning start as we met the transporter at 4am with 4 new recruits. They're a lovely bunch of youngsters and will be great additions to the kennel.
A further 15 dogs were sent up the gallop today with Hamar Superstar and Kilmalady Biffo going particularly well.
No luck at Swindon tonight from our 5 runners as once again most of them were badly crowded. Stanton Ovation got knocked over on the third bend but thankfully seems none the worse for the fall.
Thursday 25th
Southern Angel got a much deserved win in her 515m maiden open. Angel battled really hard to get up on the line after being crowded on the run in. She's been keeping very good company since arriving from Ireland and should continue to improve.
Friday 26th
A terrific afternoon for the kennel as we managed to qualify Jolly Bullseye and Screen Critic for the Arc final. Bullseye didn't break in his best fashion but flew to the bend and took off down the back straight, he looked to have the race sewn up off the last bend until Longwood Warrior came out of the clouds to challenge him close home. Warrior didn't get on with the job but thankfully didn't fight our fella so we safely made it through.
Screen Critic had every chance in his heat but couldn't live with the all round pace of Shaneboy Alley and we were beaten just over 2 lengths. It's a terrific achievement from Batman to make a Cat 1 final in only his 3rd race over here and he should improve for the run again.
We had a couple of winners at the evening meeting. Taranis Diva made a very impressive winning debut as she led coming home to win her A2 by 2 3/4 lengths in a very smart 28.81. Diva has only had the 1 race in Ireland and that was back in December so this was a great effort. She'll head to Hove next week for a trial.
Glendine Girl ran a stormer as she led all the way in her A5 to win by 1/2 a length in 28.79.
Saturday 27th
The dogs in general ran very well this evening as we came away with 3 winners.
Redlion Enfield got her first win for the kennel as she led pretty much all the way to win her A6 by a Neck in a personal best 29.53.
Jolly Be Good also won her first race for us as she ran a very strong race to win a good quality A2 by 3 lengths in a fast 28.74. She looks a nice little prospect.
Smoothoppa Razor completed the night's work with an impressive win in her A2. Opera led at the halfway stage and stayed on well to win by 3 1/2 lengths in 28.85.

Performance of the Week

There's been some good performances this week to choose from with Jolly Be Good and Smoothoppa Razor both impressing but the award goes to Taranis Diva with her excellent A2 debut win. It's very tough for a novice to go straight into good A2 company and do the business and she did it in style. She'll improve nicely for that run and she'll be an interesting runner to follow.