Poppy slingshots herself to the quickest Golden Sprint time

Slingshot Poppy justifies ante-post favourite tag in opening round

A 3.57 sectional was plenty enough to see Slingshot Poppy away and gone in her heat of the Coral Golden Sprint, running riot for Brian Fairbairn. Not only was she the quickest qualifier, she won by the biggest margin of the night, putting more than seven lengths into a smart field. She has drawn the toughest of the semis but a repeat of last night's win would make her hard to stop.

Bockos Buster was 19 spots slower than Slingshot Poppy as the second quickest winner of the night. Kevin Boon's son of Ballymac Best has a string of competition finals to his name and another would not be any surprise with the way that the draw has worked out for him ahead of next week.

First run at a track does not appear to be any concern for Flashing Fender, an impressive winner on the night despite getting a little lost past the pavilion. He is drawn to the immediate left of Slingshot Poppy next week, his sectional was six spots slower, so it will be interesting to see how they come away next Friday.

It has been an outstanding start to the year for Piemans Goalie, coming from last to first to pick up his heat. He has six wins and a pair of runner-up efforts in his last eight starts, so David Mullins and the Piemans Racing Club will have high hopes of making the decider.

A single spot covered the winners of the other two heats with Rose Draper's Swift Hostile just coming out the quicker. The Sheffield sprint track record holder came out of a messy first bend with the lead, so his 24.33 doesn't tell the whole story. His 3.62 split was eye-catching as would be expected of one with a two-bend clock to his name.

Quinton Boy was the biggest-priced winner in the heats, getting the job done at 7/1 for Paul Young. Helped by the red jacket, he slipped around the inside of a little bit of crowding at the opening bend to make the best of his way home down the back. 

The undercard saw another Romford success for Tiffield Tarquin who justified prohibitive odds to land a 35.05 victory for Roy Peckham. That makes him 6/6 in 2026, five of those over this track and trip. He even missed the kick a little after being at Hove last week.

A double for Martyn Wiley came from Alana The Second and Unmistakable in back-to-back 575m contests. Both of them were away and gone from their rivals at an early stage, winning by a combined 12 lengths. They were open race winners eight and nine on the year for a kennel who had 18 in total in 2025. 

Stormy Pat was the other winner on the card, scoring in the opener for Katie O'Flaherty. The wide runner has plenty of early boot which he used to great effect to run out a five-length winner. 

Sprite wins at Sunderland to beat former kennel

One of the biggest points of interest last night at Sunderland was the return to four bends of Bower Sheeran. He won the Shootout over track and trip last November before running up in the National Sprint and picking up a pair of slick wins over Newcastle's 290m distance.

He popped out in front but he was never fully able to shake off the attentions of Parkview Sprite who was having his first run for Glenn Foot having left Tom Heilbron's range. The runner-up left plenty of lengths out there running off the opening bend, with the winner able to slip up his inside turning for home before powering clear.

Sunnyside Ted added a third time in the top seven sprint clocks of the year with a slick win for Ted Soppitt. The pup went clear with his kennelmate Sunnyside Jayden from an early stage, the pair having it between them. The win brings his strike rate up to 50% now in his career, 8/16.

A race featuring Killieford Goram and Emily Superstar might have been expected to be at Star Pelaw but the pair were seen in action over 450m. It was the former who came out on top on the run to the opening bend and the veteran pulled well clear of his rivals. Dean Blackbird's charge is a June 21 whelp but is showing little sign of slowing down.

One other open on the card was a sprint contest with Milestone Mo coming out on top for Graham Strike. She was getting her head in front for the first time since mid-November, getting off the mark in open race company at the sixth attempt.