Foster lands Tuesday night double in Swindon Opens

Foster lands Tuesday night double in Swindon Opens

Swindon was the venue for the only open race action in the UK on Tuesday evening, hosting seven. They turned out to be very profitable for favourite backers with five going the way of the short priced favourites.

Paul Foster landed a double on the card with a couple of victories over the 476m distance and kicked off proceedings when Ballymac Zari (7/4F) trapped well and made all the running to score by three lengths in 28.15 (+20) to land a first victory since February having ran well in defeat in a string of races since then.

Southfield Queen (7/2) landed the double for Foster later on in the card when she also made all the running by 1 ½ lengths in 28.37 (+20).

Angie Kibble is often on the mark in these Tuesday night opens and more often than not, it’s with Newinn Bliss (5/6F). That was the case again here as she produced another flying start from the traps to make all the running by four lengths, in 27.98 (+20), the third fastest time of the year over the 476m course and continuing her fine form at the track. Not only was it her seventh win in a row, but it was also her tenth victory from 12 starts at the track this year.

But that performance was eclipsed when John Campbell’s Hard Done Boy (5/6F) produced a sensational performance, running out an 8 ¼ length winner in 27.84 (+20), recording the fastest time of the year in doing so in just his third start. The June 23 youngster made it three wins out of three and drew clear in impressive fashion and could be worth following in the coming weeks with potentially more improvement to come.

Talking of fast times, track record holder for the 262m distance Dashing Dude (1/3F) was well fancied when following up last week’s victory, producing a better break from the traps, he was able to lead round the opening bends to score by 1 ¼ lengths in 15.26 (+10). Frank Bryce’s runner looks to getting back to his best and could be tough to beat in the coming weeks.

Rob Short’s Invergarry (15/8) was an impressive winner in the remaining 476m contest when taking up the lead down the back to go on and win well by 4 ¼ lengths in a time of 28.42 (+20) to land a first Open Race victory, while Peter Swadden’s Ballycowen Lil (5/6F) also landed a first Open Race victory in the finale over 682m, coming from off the pace to lead rounding the final bends to draw clear for a wide margin 8 ½ length victory in 41.71 (+30). She is now two from two over six bends, having scored in her six bend debut in top grade back in February.