Locke and Henry take Sunday honours at Towcester and Sheffield

Locke in charge at Towcester

The final Cat Two events for Derby final night have their finalists after heats at Towcester yesterday afternoon. Maxine Locke picked up three of the six winners, including a pair in the puppy competition in litter brothers Annadown Chip and Annadown Warrior.

The former was the quicker of the pair, not seen in race action since the opening round of the Hove Puppy Cup six weeks back. He has been ticking over in trials, including a look at Sunderland ahead of the Arc Puppy Trophy at the end of this month. Quickly into stride, he took the lead around the opening two bends and never looked back.

His kennelmate was the quicker of the two on the sectional, only by three spots, quickly putting his race to bed out wide. He was another to make an exit in the opening round of that Hove competition but he has won all of his other four race starts.

Headford Lily was the other winner for Locke, taking her heat of a bitches competition, another to take the race by the scruff of the neck from the front. A bet365 English Puppy Oaks finalist back in December, she has wins at Newcastle, Central Park and Romford as well this year.

The other heat of the puppy competition went to Paul Young's Bowmers Buddy. It was the messiest of the three heats, with the winner getting on top at the third bend. A Puppy Derby finalist at Monmore, he is certainly capable of better in an intriguing final on Saturday night. 

Quickest in the bitches competition was Blackstone Opera. The Coral Brighton Belle winner flew around in 28.59, an electric 3.76 split setting her on the way to victory. She has a 50% career strike rate and has been successful in five of her last seven starts.

Belinda Green took the third bitches heat with Bombshell Bullet, another who showed the best pace to the bend to get to the front early on. Newinn Jolie kept her honest in the latter stages, running her to three-quarters of a length.

Henry with three at Sheffield

10 open or invitational races in total at Sheffield where Diane Henry won three of them. Savanaregimental, as is generally the case with him, didn't take up the running until late in the day, landing himself his third time in the top seven at the track over 660m this year. 

Henry also won the other staying contest on the card with Savanaacatenango. The time was a long way short of her more illustrious kennelemate but she picked up her first open since Suffolk Downs last December, so it will have come as a welcome success.

The treble was brought up by Grouchos Cassie who justified his position as the 2/5 market leader. He got a perfect second hare to chase in Pimlico Princess and having taken the measure of that one at the three-quarter point, he got off the mark at the fourth time of asking for current connections.

Some smart times were produced over the 480m trip led by Grantstown Cross for William Hamilton. At 2/9, he was the shortest priced winner on the afternoon, making it a perfect 4/4 over this track and trip since joining the kennel from Rab Galloway. It was just a there runner race but his 27.60 was only a length off the quickest time of the year so far.

Droopys Trigger was just over a length slower for Savva Roberts, beating his more fancied kennelmate Born Scooby in the process. He had bounced back to winning ways at Newcastle 10 days prior and followed that up in fine style.

Kevin Boon saw Farneys Tearaway chase home Droopys Trigger but he got on the scoreboard himself in the final contest of the afternoon with Bockos Frankel. It was a decent battle with Some Hiker who had taken the lead from him around the opening couple of bends but the winner got his head back in front at the three-quarters mark.

There was a winner for Esther Driver as Skyfall Dingo picked up a sprint contest. It was his race debut, pacing up well after a level break to grab the lead heading into the opening bend. He looked a decent enough type in that win and it will be interesting to see how he progresses.

The other sprint on the card went to Finnery Kobe for Suzie Oxley. He is on a remarkable run of win one, lose one for his last 11 starts, so he is perhaps not one to be taking short odds about next time out. He has been an excellent runner for the kennel, picking up his third open sprint contest.

A pair of 500m contests were also part of the afternoon action with Kellies Emerald kicking off the card with a winner for Jason Gray. He did his connections proud with a win in the opening round of the Derby earlier on in May, with this win on his Sheffield debut.

Lisa Stephenson grabbed the other winner with So Its Strate in a puppy contest. His other career wins to this point had all been by a wide margin but he had to work harder this time to get up late in the day by a length.