Bretons Girl tickles Romford clock and Foot takes three at Sunderland

Hunt sprinter a spot off Romford clock

The 225m clock at Romford took a near miss last night as Nathan Hunt's Bretons Girl stopped the timer at 13.18, a single spot outside of Chopchop Rainbow's track record. January was the last time that she has scored over this distance, winning a pair of 400m contests  in June when last successful but she smashed out the lids and was never for catching.

There was a double on the night for Maxine Locke, led by Mystican Batman who put himself in the perfect position from the striped jacket on the outside at the opening bend to take advantage of the trouble inside of him. He quickly went clear for his third win from his last four starts. 

Locke's other winner was Jacktavern Don who made all of the running in a 400m contest. He quickly assumed control off a 3.74 split and with his main pace pressure at the opening bend on the outside of him, he had no issues holding his line and kicking away from his rivals. 

Top performance of the night over 400m came from Craig Morris's Westway Mario. He was even quicker to the split, clocking 3.66 to the line first time as he ran away from the rest of the field in a decent 23.90. This was just his second start for Morris, landing an A2 at Yarmouth in the first of them.

Bubbly Hogan set the standard over 575m on the night for Tony Dean. A Derby quarter-finalist earlier on in the summer, he was unfortunately taken out of that assignment as lame, making a sparking debut over six bends here, stopping the clock in 35.09. 

The other six-bend contest on the card concluded the night and was won by Ricky Holloway's Rapido Benny. A smart sort over four bends, he has taken well to the step up in trip with wins at Star Pelaw before making the semis of the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic. His stamina beyond this sort of trip is questionable but his pace over shorter gets him in positions to win.

A third win in a row and fourth in five starts came the way of Dave Lee's Jacquesinthebox. The November puppy is really finding his stride now and having produced the best sectional so far in his short career, he was always going to be a tough one to contain, producing a 24-dead run.

Piemans Goalie picked up a second win on the bounce having scored a fortnight back. He faced a strong field here but he has shown plenty of times in the past, when he has got the bit between his teeth and is in winning form, he is a very hard dog to beat over this 400m distance for David Mullins. 

Paul Young got on the scoresheet with Bellini Bullet who was led up early on but managed to get on top by the time they got to the third bend. She is only a November puppy so there should be some progression to come for all that she is already the winner of five of her first 13 starts for Young. 

The big shock of the night came from the 33/1 success of Savana Cosmic for Michelle Brown. The December 21 whelp has been producing solid efforts in top grade at Yarmouth of late, but had been without an open race wins since January which came over six bends at Suffolk Downs. She took control of the inside early and that was enough to see her score. 

Sunderland treble for Glenn Foot

Glenn Foot picked up a trio of winners at Sunderland on Friday night with one over each of the three distances in action. His sprinting win came from Foulkscourt Bono who was not the quickest into stride but soon engaged the turbo to go past his rivals and have it wrapped up by the opening bend.

Over 450m, there was a success from Droopys Orator who was making his debut for the kennel. He was a smart type in Ireland with a best run of 28.31 at Shelbourne, though he perhaps didn't win quite as often as one of his ability would have been expected to. That said, he was straight off the mark here for Foot. 

Witton Gucci has been in flying form in recent weeks at Star Pelaw, setting the two fastest times of the year there to this point. She took on the 650m distance last night and having got to the lead relatively early on in the contest, just kept pulling out more from the front to take the race by almost six lengths. 

There was a double on the night for Paul Miller. His winners both came at the expense of a short-priced favourite, with Donishall Riley getting the job done in a sprint. He had a decent battle with Ted Soppitt's Velvet George, getting himself back to the front at the line by a neck having been headed.

It was Mister Bull who had got the Miller double started with a win over four bends. The October pup was making just his third career start here, winning for the second time after landing an A4 contest on debut. 

There was a horribly messy first bend in the Arena Racing Company 450m final, where Stuart Tighe's Brickhill Tamika took full advantage of the innermost draw to claim the win. He has stepped back up to four bends with success of late and this is going to give connections more options to aim him at.

Going the other way was Tom Heilbron's Unanimous Leo. He had been showing bundles of early pace in his four bend races but had not been getting home. He got to the front at halfway on this drop to a sprint trip, ending up a length and a half winner. 

Hollyhill King showed electric early to land the final race on the card for Mark Bulmer, a 4.89 split setting him on his way from the widest draw. It was a month since he was last in race action, landing an A1 contest on that occasion.