Friday doubles for Locke, Childs, Lee and Taberner
Romford and Sunderland provided the open class action on Friday night with Maxine Locke, Dean Childs, Dave Lee and Richie Taberner all grabbing a brace of winners at the first named.
Doubles galore at Romford
The winning run of Headford Sarah continued last night for Maxine Locke, making it five from her last six outings over 400m here. She is showing bundles of early, and given that this was her final run as a puppy, there might still be a little bit more to come from her in time, with only 19 starts on the board.
The Locke double was kicked off by Headford Wayne, another to use sparkling pace to the opening turn as his weapon of choice. He is a regular around the 3.70 mark on the splits here which makes him a tough one to hold in these one-off situations. He was chased home by kennelmate Droopys Will (who had made the Guys & Dolls final) to give the form a rock solid look to it.
Dave Lee also picked up a pair of 400m scorers on the card with Untold Dinero the quicker of the pair. He had made the final of the British Bred Puppy Cup at Dunstall Park and continued that good work with a fluent display that saw him come home almost five lengths clear of his nearest rival.
Another Solution added a second winner for Lee, continuing his recent sequence of picking up a win every other start. This was a career best from him, and given that he has limited miles on the clock and has produced quicker sectionals, the 24-second barrier being broken soon by him feels inevitable.
It was a good night for Dean Childs, with a double of his own. Distant Hiker got things rolling over six bends, popping out in front to make all of the running. He is not the most regular winner but he has collected a pair of victories over 575m here in his last three outings, with the step up in trip clearly suiting,
A 10/1 winner concluded Childs's double as Distant Rover got himself up the inside into the opening bend to take out a competitive race which contained the likes of Bombay Buck and Brindle Bully. Although he has gone slightly quicker in a pair of A1 wins, this has to rate as the new best form that he has shown given the depth of the field behind him.
The final trainer to pick up a pair of winners on the night was Richie Taberner. Glengar Dash took the opening win for Taberner with a 400m triumph, swooping to the lead at the third bend before quickly opening up a gap of eight and a half lengths over her rivals. It was the first win of her career at the 10th time of asking, and she could hardly have been more impressive.
Aero Pepinillo took victory in the final race of the night, getting the better of the red-hot favourite Mad For Cash. It was a fourth win from his last seven starts, hitting form with a vengeance in recent times, those wins coming at three different tracks. He showed the best early pace and built up enough of a lead.
Nathan Hunt was out of luck with Mad For Cash but he had taken the first open on the card with Kilara Kopeck. He had been cut off at the opening bend, with Zenith Impact taking the rail and the lead but from the fourth turn there felt like there was an inevitability that Hunt's dog would chase the leader down, eventually getting on top as they turned for home.
Romeo Dutch the Sunderland standout
Two of the three opens at Sunderland last night were sprint contests, with the quicker of the pair being won by Romeo Dutch. Tom Heilbron's wide runner won four of his first eight starts for the kennel over 450m at this track but had no issues with the drop back in distance, pinging out to make all of the running.
Stuart Tighe took the other sprint with Brickhill Tamika. He was 20 spots slower than Romeo Dutch, though he left a bit at the lids before powering up the inside to take the lead heading into the opening turn. He has won 50% of his 12 starts for Tighe which include victories on four different tracks, so he is nothing if not adaptable.
The sole 450m open contest on the card went the way of Hello My Friend for Cheryl Ingham. His stamina had given out late on at Star Pelaw last time out over 590m but he needed all of the four bends here to get himself to the front, running on well to grab the favourite Mossend Colton in the last few strides.
