Nutty turns over Vhagar to set Grand Prix quickest

Bombay Nutty causes Sunderland shock

Mark Wallis will be represented by half of the field in next week's Arena Racing Company Grand Prix final, winning both semis on Friday night at Sunderland. The win for Bombay Nutty was not expected by the punters, turning over 1/11 favourite Vhagar in the second semi-final. 

A missed break helped the cause of the winner, last going into the opening turn, he slipped up the inside of the trouble to pick up the lead heading past the stands on the first circuit. Vhagar had enough about her to comfortably qualify in second with Ballymac Sargie filling out the frame for Tom Heilbron.

It was Newinn Cloud who took the first semi-final, booking his place in a second Grand Prix decider. Just nine spots covered the first four home, the winner popping out in front and making all the running to hold off Greenwell Bolt and Droopys Cardi for John Flaherty and Heilbron respectively. 

Two heats of a 450m competition saw Slingshot Poppy comfortably the quicker of the winners, clocking 27.16 on her way to a three-length win at odds of 1/8. It put her track and trip record to seven wins from eight visits, which includes four of the top seven times of 2025.

The other heat was won by Mark Bulmer's Hollyhill King, another odds-on chance turned over on the card as Heilbron's Unanimous Leon was sent off the 4/9 market leader. The winner was away and gone around the outside off a 4.96 split, six spots quicker than Slingshot Poppy accomplished, which puts his impressive early pace into context. 

Three for Young but it's Calypso who lands puppy glory

No trainer in the country has had more open race winners than Paul Young in 2026, adding another three to his tally on Friday night at Romford. One of those was not Gav Nificent, however, who was sent off as favourite to take the JR Racing Puppy Cup, the Category Two feature on the card. 

Calypso Blaze came out in front for Paul Burr and while he was challenged by the favourite, he was always finding just that little bit extra when it was required. The winner was marked awkward in his heat, so it will be interesting to see if he can be kept on the right path by connections. 

Young's top performer was Bubbly Crusader, a dog with all the ability in the world but with very few races, separated by some large gaps on the card. He had dipped under the sprint clock in a trial last week, so was clearly in flying form. His 23.81 set the standard in the 400m races but it was just the fifth career start for the April 23 whelp.

There was a double for the Champagne Club courtesy of Bubbly Amber who won her contest by 13 lengths. Three of her rivals were brought down in a melee at the first bend which made her task considerably easier, beating one of the 16/1 outsiders in second. 

The middle leg of the Young treble was the always reliable Yahoo Mareike. She had no issue clearing her rivals from the black jacket to add to her recent Coral Golden Sprint semi-final success. It was the 13th open race win of her career.

Maxine Locke is second to Young in terms of volume of open winners and she picked up a quickfire double with Headford Sarah and Bonville Betty. The former had finished a length and a half behind Calypso Blaze in a JR Racing Puppy Cup heat last week while the latter got off the mark at the ninth time of asking.

The top performance over six bends on the night came from Nathan Hunt's Inca Lewie. It was a third win from his last four visits, finishing second on the other to Tiffield Tarquin. A sub 35-second time was the second such win in that spell for him.

A marathon contest saw Princess Matilda add another win to her bulging resume for Gemma Evans, a sixth straight success for her and an 18th in her career on her 40th start. She has enjoyed an exceptional start to 2026, and with wins at this track as well as Central Park and Towcester, she is adaptable as well.

It wouldn't be a Friday night at Romford without a winner for David Mullins, Stradeen Spirit picking up the success. He was squeezed out at the start but that saw him switch onto the rails, run a better first two bends than his rivals and kick away down the back.

A sprint to open the card went to Martyn Wiley's Daring Hoffa who picked up his first win since July. Robbies Glory landed a 400m contest for Barrie Backhurst and Capel Moon took a 575m race for Tony Gifkins to round out the winners on the night.