Dual Peter Bussey winner Woodcocks Akia producing winners as a dam

Woodcocks Akia making a good impression as a dam

Woodcocks Akia will always be a favourite of Crayford racegoers having won back-to-back Peter Bussey Memorial Trophy titles there - and now her offspring are beginning to make giant strides at Towcester.

Trained by former Crayford handler Nick Deas, Woodcocks Akia successfully defended her 540m title in 2022 having won the popular Category Two the previous year. She also reached the semi-finals of the Peter Bussey in 2023, but the February 18 daughter of Ballymac Best and Ballymac Kia is now dam to a September 24 batch by leading British-bred star Signet Denver - and Under The Bridge has quickly continued where her mum left off!

Winner of three of her five races at the Northamptonshire venue, Under The Bridge has been joined in the winner’s enclosure by The Rising Sun, twice a winner in five starts, and Strawberry Moon, who made a winning debut earlier this month and has a one-from-three record as it stands. And three more members of the litter are due on track soon.

Deas said: “There's two more dogs and one bitch left to qualify on once the paperwork is complete and we couldn’t be happier with them. Strawberry Moon is the double of her mum, although all seem to be railers - unlike her mum at Crayford!

“At this stage I’d say the bitches might be kept to sprints, but the dogs are 33 kilos and the new 460m trip they’re introducing at Towcester might be good for them.”

Deas, based at Tommy Foster’s former base in Hersham, Surrey, has made the switch to Towcester from Oxford where he moved to when Crayford close.

“Thanks to everyone at Oxford - they were a massive help to us when Crayford closed, but when the opportunity to join Towcester arose it was something I couldn’t turn down, and it’s good to link up again with the old Crayford racing management of Danny Rayment and Graham Banks. We go back a long way.”