An excellent weekend's racing across the country gave open race fans plenty of choice, both live if they travelled to the track, or for the stay at home punters RPGTV covered most of the top meetings. It seems like the cream of the canine talent in the country, Dorotas Wildcat apart, from all the kennels was on display somewhere from Thursday to Sunday and we were treated to some great action. We didn’t have any runners at Hove on Thursday as the Winter Derby reached the semi final stage where both Seamus Cahill and Liz Mcnair took the honours and both field two runners apiece in the final. On Friday the Coral Golden Sprint kicked off and our two runners All Slick Now and Running Senor were eliminated as Liz Mcnair’s King Elvis went fastest.

 

On Saturday at Monmore my expectations weren’t too high in the Ladbrokes Puppy Derby and I was delighted when our relatively unexposed Droopys Cruiser won so gamely in his heat. He showed real guts at the crown of the 3rd and 4th bends where he burst through to win well in his heat in a decent 28.77 (-10) to the delight of his syndicate who was out in force on the night. Flip The Tyre was pitched in with the two ante post favourites for outright honours, Toolmaker Me Dad and Badminton Jet, and was a dismissive 25/1 chance but he showed the promise of the trial stake the week before when running a blinder to pass some other tough rivals to grab that important 3rd spot, in the end he was only beaten 4 1/4 lengths by Toolmaker Me Dad in the fastest time of the round 28.24 (-10). Our kennelhand Roy Peckham is Flip The Tyre’s proud owner and who's to say he can’t make this prestigious final .

 

We were also at Sheffield on Saturday. Chubbys Caviar back from a small injury (split web) would have gone really close in a super hot Bitches race but for both traps 2 and 3 moving wide on the run up hampering her badly, she still finished a close up 4th and will strip fitter for the run. Patrick Jansen’s Seaglass Phantom took the feature race when winning the Juvenile well and we didn't leave empty handed as Brigadier Bullet took a good 720m race in a fine 43.05 (-40).

 

On Sunday Henlow’s season of open racing began with the heats of the Maiden Gold Cup and the Greyhound Star Marathon. The first heat of the marathon saw a thrilling finish where Savana Winner beat Goldies Hotspur by a short head in 56.00. Our three runners in the second heat were all running well with No Can Boogie running a stormer before in form Aayamza Breeze galloped to victory by just over 3 lengths in 55.85. In the Maiden Gold Cup both Razldazl Valerie (2nd) and Nothing But Love (3rd) ran well to qualify but the star of the heats was Glory Snake who won really well in 33.73 (-50) the fastest time of the first round.

 

I’ve been waiting for the right time to announce it but unfortunately the racing career of our Derby finalist and Olympic winner Bruisers Bullet is over. After his recent handslip at Monmore he injured his wrist again, though not serious as it was more a problem with his ligaments it was enough to stop a potential return to the track. That side may have come to an end but his syndicate headed by Billy Boyle can hopefully look forward to Bruiser having a great stud career. Billy has already a litter on the ground by Droopys Achieve and has had many enquiries to his availability, he currently has straws available at Merefield Stud now and plans to have more elsewhere in the future.

 

Talking of breeding we are awaiting a potential big litter from former star racer Saffrons Tina, a Three Steps To Victory finalist and bred in the purple and was mated to top sire Droopys Cain and she is due to be whelped anytime now. Our partnership with a Gary Goulden at the Energize Kennels has been a huge success and anyone wishing to place an order on any of these pups can do so now, we have a fantastic deal on offer.

 

A big thank you to the huge response we got from our new retirement page, so many people enjoy seeing our former kennel stars and there are more coming in all the time, keep them coming in.

 

 

 

All our open race action will be at the weekend this week as we eagerly await the Ladbrokes Puppy Derby semi finals at Monmore with Droopys Cruiser and Flip The Tyre involved while we will be at Sheffield as well.

 

On Sunday the Greyhound Star Marathon final should be a cracker and both Aayamza Breeze and No Can Boogie will fancy their chances as should the Maiden Gold Cup semi finals which sees all our three remaining runners pitched in together, surprise surprise!