Thursday's card was a reasonable open card, with a
few graded fillers.
The opener was a Div 3 standard
and made a change from the 435 OR opener. Elusive
Too broke best, but failed to negotiate the first two bends and
played no further part in the race. Bubbly
Magic got a clear run to lead off the second, but never looked
likely to stay there. Not
So Jolly ran well last week and showed plenty of pace down the
back straight after his usual slow start. He was clumsy and was
crowded at the 3rd and looked unlikely to win after this. However, Bubbly
Magic went into slow motion and allowed Not
So Jolly to get back up. Reverse
Pace stayed on for 3rd and has gone off the boil in recent runs.
The
hurdles 475 open saw the return of the 2007 Springbok winner Blackmagic
Jamie (ex Cee Yah). He was sent off a 3/1 shot tonight. After a
modest break, he showed the best EP and headed Too
Much Trouble going into the bend and led round. However, he hit
the second hurdle hard and lost lots of lengths and the race. Strong
Flow was the benefactor and went on to score, though to be fair
he was close in contention at the time. Too
Much Trouble kept n and went under by half a length.
In
the Div 2 475 maiden, Black
As Coal broke smartly and stretched a few lengths clear. He
looked set for a comfortable success, but his stride shortened and
in the end, he held on desperately. Meander
broke ok, moved off at the first and kept on and went down by a head
Westminster
Taj won the Silver Collar Saturday, but tonight he ran poorly in
the 640 open. He started slowly, was a long way from fluent at the
bends and ran down the field. Mitzie
was sent off a strongly supported 5/4 jolly and roared home. She
took a while to get going (as normal), but flew past them between
the last two bends. Synone
Rubin had led for much of the way, before fading on the run in. Eye
Onthe Power plodded on for second, despite being 1 paced from
between the last two bends.
Wheres
Yer Man was another well supported jolly to oblige. He was a
drawn dog and despite a modest break, he swung off the second bend
in front and won quite comfortably. Perceptive
Pacey ran well enough and finished second. Legal
Major was again not at all fluent at the bends and was well
beaten.
Milldean
Flash looked to be another drawn dog in the Div 2 standard, He
broke level with the field and got a clear run to lead at the first.
His stride shortened off the last and he held on. Risk
Related was crowded at the first and stayed on from off the
pace. He went down by half a length. Stride
On Babe was crowded out of it at the first, after momentarily
looking like she might lead up.
Another jolly went
round the bend in front in the puppy standard. Milldean
Buster broke averagely and paced up to lead at the first. The
rag Tiger
Scot, gave him a real fright and lost out by just half a length.
The Cahill runners were getting over the line by narrow margins
tonight. A number of these could have got beat on another night. The
layers must have been cursing their luck.
Omega
Wink broke well and made all in the novice marathon. Pennys
Dazzler and Centaur
Stag got tangled up at several points over the marathon trip. Pennys
Dazzler had lots of opportunities to get past and is probably
one to avoid at the Stow.
Clonbrin
Show has been a prolific scorer at the Stow and added another
win to his tally in the veterans event. He broke well and made all. Optimistic
Henry started slowly, but kept on ok for a fair second. Clodiagh
Flight was crowded at the first, but showed plenty of pace
afterwards, and probably should have finished second. Tornaroy
Title ran poorly and didn't look anything like the dog that won
here last week.
Noirs
Ted returned from a 6 month break and was an decent winner.
Understandably, he tied up towards the end of the race, as Courts
Ad Queen closed him down to a length. Fear
Becks was slightly impreded on the run to the first bend and
also didn't negotiate the first two bends well and ran into trouble.
Afterwards, he showed searing pace and finished a close 3rd.
Venturemore
was a bitter disappointment after last weeks superb effort. Mr
Coleman must have brought the wrong dog tonight, as this one bared
no resemblance to the dog that burned up the track last week. Cobra
Striking was also disappointing. He looked a little laboured
getting to the front tonight and never had an advantage that he
looked like holding on to. He was passed at the 3rd and finished
tamely. The stayers then came to the fore and Rough
Gerrard came out on top, beating Shelbourne
Ryan by 3/4 of a length, with Rooster
Nosey a further length back in third spot.
Zu
Yi and Treacle
Star broke well together in the Div 1 maiden, with Treacle
Star showing slightly the better early pace. Zu
Yi was never far away though. Poacher
Man broke modestly and showed decent pace to lead at the 3rd,
only to have a dwell up as Zu
Yi came back at him. Poacher
Man slung the race away and had a bit of a tear up on the back
straight after the race was over. Zu
Yi took the invitation gratefully.
Plenty
wanted to be on Special
Trip in the A2 and he was sent off a very short looking 11/10
shot. After an average start he got a clear run and turned in handy
behind the early pace setter Fionntra
Dara. Special
Trip held every chance and could not, or would not, go past.
While Special
Trip was not getting on with the job properly, Siesta
Moonlight finished strongly and led on the run in.
Heavy
Weather was sent off a warm 5/4 shot in the novice stayers
finale. He missed the break and looked to have it all to do
initially. He did get a nice clear run round the first two bends,
but had three dogs in front of him on the run to the 3rd bend. When
one of them is named Smoking
Jet, you always have a chance though! Smoking
Jet fought and interfered with Like
Hot Cakes and Paxton
Prince and for Heavy
Weather, it was like a parting of the sea. Heavy
Weather led from the 3rd. Like
Hot Cakes looked particularly unlucky as he ran on well after
the mauling at the 3rd and only went down by 3/4 of a length.