A Sunday filled with surprises at Towcester and Sheffield
There were plenty of surprises at both Towcester and Sheffield yesterday afternoon with the open racing throwing up plenty of short prices turned over.
Janssens at the double from Towcester's five opens
Oaks finalist Fabulous Aria quickly returned to winning ways, producing a smart effort from the front to make it three wins in her last four starts. She blew the start from a wider draw last week but a 3.02 split set her on her way to a six and a half length success in 28.89. She cut her teeth around the track with Laurence Tuffin earlier in her career and it remains her favourite stomping ground.
Slick Stravinsky got his head in front at the ninth time of asking, sporting the red jacket for the first time since October. He broke better from the rails than he had from the middle, taking more than two lengths off his best sectional time at the track. The talent has never been in question and now he has broken his duck, hopefully he can kick on from here.
There was a shock for Janssens with Slick Sentinel being turned over. A missed break saw him have to put in a lot of running to get himself back to the front, and eventually that effort saw him vulnerable to Always Wrighty for John Mullins. The Yarmouth open race winner was sent off at 33/1 after finishing fourth in the track championship at the easternmost track on Boxing Day.
Mark Wallis saw his new recruit Bruce Bay turned over at odds on behind Slick Stravinsky but got himself a winner courtesy of Pavilion Team who turned over an odds-on shot himself in Born Racer. He had been behind Carol Weatherall's railer in his last couple of starts but gained revenge to close out the card.
The other open on the card went to Seamus Gaughan's Java Joan who took advantage of her draw on the inside to take the lead around the opening bend and kicking away down the back. There was another Wallis newcomer in that race in Bower Aoibhin who like Bruce Bay, finished third and is well worth noting in the coming weeks.
Very Elegant takes the plaudits at Sheffield
Honours were shared around at Sheffield yesterday with their eight open/invitational contests won by eight different trainers. Highlight of them was Very Elegant for Sean Davy who won the stayers contest in 39.11. That would have tied the fifth best time of the year had it been run last week, getting on top late on after Droopys Extragud had set the early fractions.
Tiermana Rocky showed the best early to take out a 480m contest for David Fradgely. He has won three of his last five now, finishing second in the other pair, alternating his results. Drumdoit Finn was marginally the quickest over that distance, clocking 27.79 for Jak Knape. It was his first run at Sheffield since February 2024, landing the contest at 8/1.
Esther Driver had the quickest of the 500m winners with Skyfall Mini, producing a 28.96 run. She just had enough in hand at the opening turn to take her line ahead of Aurora Dawn, with the runner-up always chasing her tail.
Beepers Cash In for Paul Prior and Tromora Cross for Sean Parker were the other 500m winners on the afternoon. The first of those was making his UK debut, showing pace in Ireland but unable to get his head in front when trained over there. The latter is an April 24 pup, winning for the second time in his first six starts.
The two sprint winners were both surprises at 9/1 and 12/1. Audience was the shorter of those for Rose Draper, winning for the fifth time in his last seven starts, climbing the grades over both trips. Savana Kilauea was the second, winning on debut for Diane Henry having shown plenty of speed to win multiple Suffolk Downs opens for Michelle Brown.
