Derby Day Eyecatchers From The Richard Rees Kennel
Derby Day Eyecatchers From The Richard Rees Kennel. On Saturday 14th June all eyes were on the £175,000 final of the Star Sports / TRC English Greyhound Derby, but it was some of the other runners on the card that caught my eye, especially those from the Richard Rees kennel.
Derby Day Eyecatchers From The Richard Rees Kennel
On Saturday 14th June all eyes were on the £175,000 final of the Star Sports / TRC English Greyhound Derby, but it was some of the other runners on the card that caught my eye, especially those from the Richard Rees kennel.
Reflecting on an excellent night’s racing, Richard Rees kindly spoke to me this morning to discuss his Derby final night runners and their future plans.
Zenith Sultan lined up from T3 in the Jimmy Wright Memorial Stakes open race at 5.44 and caught the eye in defeat. Rees said “Sultan has come out of the race well. He’s only run twice since moving over from Ireland and will head to Towcester on Sunday’’.
It was a similar story with kennelmate Zenith Eze who finished a staying on third in the Derek & Mark Burridge Trophies open at 6.51 on Saturday evening. “There's not a lot between them’’ said Richard Rees, Eze will be aimed at the JR Racing Juvenile at Towcester’’. During the Derby, Eze won in the first-round, recording 29.11. He encountered trouble in the second round and was eliminated from the competition. The August 23 youngster is lightly raced and open to improvement. He’s one to keep an eye on over the coming months.
Zenith Quincy was next on the agenda. The November 22 son of Malachi finished well but was beaten a head by Radical Scoby in the Greyhoundtrader.com Stakes final at 7.46 over the four-bend 500 metre trip at Towcester on Derby finals night. Richard Rees said this about Quincy “he’s running on Thursday evening at Hove in the 515 Coral Trophy heat at 7.49, he should go well but will need a clear run’’.
Attention then turned to potential sprinting superstar Shadow Storm, who is owned by Mark White, founder, owner and chairman of National League South club Dorking Wanderers. When asked about Mark White Rees said “he can’t be offended, he’s a great owner’’. Plans for Shadow Storm, well, Rees went on to say “he’s having a couple of weeks off after three on the bounce. There are no plans at the moment, but we are very happy. He excelled but did get the draw on each run. It’ll be interesting when he gets a middle draw’’.
Last but not least was Amazing Zeus who finished third in the BetGoodwin Challenge Trophy final at 8.57 over the six-bend 712-metre trip. The May 23 son of Good Cody has only run three times over a six-bend trip, finishing second in the first round of this competition and then third in the semi-final. On Saturday evening, Zeus was sent off at 25/1 and ran a cracker in defeat, finishing third, beaten just over three lengths. Richard Rees said “we threw him in the deep end, we knew he would stay’’. Zeus is now enjoying a well-earned break and will return to action shortly with some upcoming competitions firmly in his sights.
