Bombay Buck sprints to gold at Romford for Paul Young

Young lands the Golden Sprint with Bombay Buck

Sometimes the market gets it wrong. Favourite all through the week after setting the quickest semi-final winning time, Bombay Buck ended up third in the betting for the Coral Golden Sprint final last night but he smashed out once more to have the race in the bag by the time they hit the first bend. 

Paul Young's runner produced the run of his life, stopping the clock in 23.58, comfortably his best performance on the clock at the track before the going is taken into account. Swift Hostile filled the runner-up spot for Rose Draper. He is enjoying an excellent start to the year. Young grabbed third as well with Yahoo Mareike in her second Category One final. 

Bombay Buck was the last leg of a treble for Young, a kennel who are in flying form, picking up three at Hove on Thursday as well. They field the potentially special Underground Gold in the semis of the Ladbrokes Puppy Derby this evening to keep the run going.

Although the track was on the quick side, the 13.37 from Young's Lesleys Buddy in a sprinting win was a smart run, especially given that he is just an August 24 whelp. Already an open winner over 400m, the drop back to sprinting looks a good move for now, for the half-brother to the Golden Sprint beaten favourite Da Don. Lesleys Buddy was formerly known as Droopys Speedy, looking well named.

The opening leg of Young's treble was Thorpys Legacy. The pup was sent straight over six bends when he arrived on these shores and 575m at Romford looked a bare minimum for him, picking up. the running late on before quickly putting almost two lengths into his field.

A double on the card for Maxine Locke was completed in the final race as Droopys Rosie returned to winning ways for the first time since October. Third in her semi of the Brighton Belle last April, she found her form as the weather started to warm up so she is one to keep onside over the coming weeks. 

Skidroe Lady started the double, backing up her win from last week. She has now won four of her six career starts, victorious in her sole run in Ireland before joining Locke. Her 3.61 split saw her a length and a half clear at the line first time around, a distance she had doubled by the finish.

There was a return to four bends last night for Bretons Girl who was half of a double on the card for Nathan Hunt. It was only the second time that she had been seen over 400m in her last 14 starts but it proved no issue for her, using her early gears to get herself away and gone. 

It was an 8/1 surprise for Hunt's opening half of the double as Whisky Man got off the mark for the first time for the kennel at the ninth time of asking. He showed some solid form when in Ireland so if this has helped his confidence, he could be quick to double up.

Paul Burr was on the mark in a six-bend contest with Bacon Frazzles. She was given a great tow into the contest by Izzys Tenpin who set sail from the start to try and make every yard, the pair pulling miles clear of the third. The winner got her head in front for the first time on the run-in.

Although David Mullins was out of luck with Izzys Tenpin, there was a win from Piemans Goalie who picked up his seventh win of 2026 from 11 starts. He was unfortunate to draw the Golden Sprint semi that contained both the winner and runner-up, missing out on a spot in the final by just three-quarters of a length. 

The night opened with a win for Martyn Wiley with Blackburnybullet. It was his fourth win in seven open races over 400m so far in 2026, good to see him bounce back after being brought down in a heat of the Golden Sprint which contained Swift Hostile who won and Da Don in third.

It was Charlie Loves Me that split the above pair in that heat a fortnight back and John Mullins's charge was on the scoresheet over 575m. He had found trouble on his two prior tries over six bends but paced into the lead early on to make it third time lucky over the distance.