Friday Night Open Report- Sonique is absolutely “Fabulous” in landing the Coral Coronation Cup

Sonique is absolutely “Fabulous” in landing the Coral Coronation Cup

Fabulous Sonique finally has a Category One success to her name, winning the £10,000 Coral Coronation Cup at Romford on Friday night.

Having been a beaten finalist in the three previous Category One finals she had appeared in, Fabulous Sonique finally got the big race success that she had deserved for trainer Mark Wallis

It was Michelle Brown’s Golden Palace who broke best of all and led into the first bend, but the Mark Wallis runner had also trapped well, and having got inside the early leader at the opening turn, went a length or so up.

Her chance was aided at the third turn, when Belinda Green’s Teddie, who was making progress to challenge for second at the time, had the door closed on her by Golden Palace, forcing her to check off into the path of Whitewood Libre, thus ending her chances of landing the £10,000 prize. 

Down the back, the leader had gone a couple of lengths clear, and although Golden Palace gave chase, it proved to be in vain, as the 4/5F favourite maintained her advantage, crossing the line two and a quarter lengths clear of Golden Palace, to score in 34.80 (+20) with Teddie, staying on bravely for third.

Speaking after the race, kennelhand Sid Huett said “She’s done everything she could do to win that race. It panned out well leading round the corner, and she’s a class act round here. The course and distance is her favourite place. She’s been in a few finals and it’s great to finally land one especially round here as she’s done a lot of her best running round here”

Owner Mike Davis said “She loves it round here doesn’t she, all those victories round here and she’s knocked on the door so many times, we all love her, the crowd here loved here and she fully deserves the win. It’s always special to win, and Romford always put on a show. Great thanks to all the staff here, Coral’s for their support, Premier Greyhound Racing, Karen McMillan. The food’s great in the restaurant, come racing!”

Elsewhere on the card, it was a superb evening for Belinda Green as she landed a hat-trick of victories. The first occurred when Ballymac Kinga (2/5F) blasted clear from the boxes and was never in any danger of being reeled in when landing a six-bend maiden by six lengths, stopping the clock in 35.44. 

Lilys Bullet (3/10F) landed the second, and arguably the most impressive performance of the evening, when she took the spoils in a maiden contest, this time over the eight bend trip of 750m. Having been last out of the traps, her task was made even tougher after finding trouble round the opening bend and again at the third bend and with a lap to go, she was still a good eight lengths behind the pace setting Gutsy Jet, trained by Michelle Brown. However, she was able to gain a lovely run up the inside heading down the back and hit the front at the seventh bend, drawing  clear at the finish for a three length success, with Gutsy Jet back in second.

Gary The Arb (1/3F) landed the hat-trick in style for Green, as he, like Ballymac Kinga, produced a cracking start to lead in the early stages, and was never in any danger at all, making all the running in 34.74 (+20) by six and a quarter lengths, a time slightly quicker than that of Fabulous Sonique.

Michelle Brown also had a good evening as she was able to land a double of her own. Roanna Mamba (8/11F) pinged the lids and despite a bump on the run up with runner up Bombay Buck, he was able to follow up last week’s wide margin victory over course and distance with a three length victory in 23.74 (+10). 

Miss Direct (7/1) provided a shock when landing the double as the well-fancied Craig Morris runner Chelms Chloe was sent off as 1/3F on the back of an impressive victory last week, but a poor break and early trouble put paid to her chances, and it was Miss Direct who took advantage with an all the way success, scoring by three and a quarter lengths in 24.02 (+10)

Morris though was on the mark with another short-priced favourite later on in the card though as Droopys Metaphor (3/10F) broke well to make all the running against the rails for a comfortable three and a half length victory in 23.97 (+10). 

On a good night for favourite backers, with eight of the 12 favourites obliging, Daring Hoffa (7/4F) got the better of Brindle Moon by a length and a half in the only sprint contest of the evening for trainer Martyn Wiley in 13.54, while So Cool (1/2F) never gave favourite backers a moment of worry when leading round the opening bends to secure a first six-bend open race victory in 35.18 for trainer Dean Childs. 

Carters Buddy (4/1) kicked off proceedings for Paul Young when taking advantage of trouble behind to run out a five and quarter length winner in 24.09, while Piemans Goalie (5/1) made all the running for Dave Mullins in 23.97 (+10), the margin of victory being two lengths.

The only non open race of the evening was a chance for the graders to strut their stuff on a Friday evening in an A7 Sweepstake Final with a £500 prize on offer. It produced the biggest priced winner of the night as Jason Bloomfield’s Last Dance Molly (22/1), got the better of a engaging battle with John Simpson’s 2/5F Two Sterling by the narrowest of margins in 24.55.

Heilbron's Sunderland takeaway

Dominoh Hoo Hoo broke her maiden over the 450m distance last night, running out an impressive 26.89 winner. Her first two starts had come in the opening round and semi-final of the BresBet Gymcrack before just getting picked up on her Sunderland debut last week. She has electric early, backing up her 4.79 split last week with a 4.80 which is going to stand her in good stead over an easy four bends. 

Upcoming Opens

Saturday: Doncaster ♦ Yarmouth

Sunday: Sheffield ♦ Star Pelaw ♦ Towcester

Friday: Romford