Friday night doubles for Mullins and Young

Romford doubles up for David Mullins and Paul Young

Brindle Bully found his trapping boots again in no uncertain fashion last night, pinging out to a 3.62 split on his way to victory in the 400m Standard final. The 23.47 that he produced is the second quickest time of the year to this point and a new personal best for the David Mullins's wide runner. 

The Mullins open race double was started earlier in the night with a 10/1 victory for Stradeen Spirit. It was the first time that he has been seen from the orange jacket in this country, clocking the second best sectional of his life to lead up his field. His record shows that when he goes round in front, there is only ever going to be one winner.

Paul Young's double also came with a pair of scorers over 400m, led by Funky Adz. Runner-up in the Coral Silver Maiden last month, he has really found his winning stride having started his career 0/11. This is his third win in his last six starts and the quickest that he has stopped he clock.

It was Lesleys Buddy who had produced the winning run in the first open on the card for Young. An A5 winner on his debut back in December, he is one of the early Shima Shine pups to hit the track over here, The Australian sire has had a few winners, with his earliest litter in the UK and Ireland an April 24. Lesleys Buddy is an August 24 whelp and is clearly open to plenty of improvement yet.

The final race on the card saw Tiffield Tarquin extend his winning sequence at the track to four straight. It was a race that ended up not being the spectacle that those in attendance would want to have seen, though Roy Peckham's hound was superb in victory once more. 

Princess Matilda came good for Gemma Evans in a 750m contest. She was turned over in the heats last week but when it mattered the most she timed her break and bolted clear from an early stage. Her time was just nine spots off the quickest of 2025, the best so far this year and better than anything produced over the distance in 2024. 

The other 750m contest saw Nick Carter's Burgess Sophia come out on top. Five of the six runners had their noses in front for at least a stride or two, so it was not a huge surprise to see the winning time come out some 16 and a half lengths slower than the one from Princess Matilda. 

Mark Wallis will be happy that he has managed to find a race for Bower Aoibhin. She has been running well without success at Towcester and stepped up to six bends last night. A lack of a look saw her move off a bit around the bends, forcing her way to the front at the opening bend.

The other open on the night went to Kevin Cobbold's Swift Jasper. A multiple top grade winner at Yarmouth, he was another who arrived without a prior look at the London Road venue but it didn't matter to him, driving the opening bend supremely well for a dog who had not seen the track. That bravery took him to a lead that he never looked like relinquishing.