Romford treble for Locke while Souly and Extragud light up Dunstall
There was open race action on Friday night at Romford where Maxine Locke picked up a trio of winners and also at Dunstall Park with some familiar names in action.
Locke take half of Romford's six opens
Friday night was a little lighter on open class action at Romford than is often the case but there was still plenty of quality on the track. Jacktavern Don returned from his travels to notch the first leg of a Maxine Locke treble. The KAB Puppy collar finalist dipped under 24 seconds for the second time in his career.
A 35.16 from Out The Blue closed out the three winners, the July 23 bitch in a real purple patch at present. 575m at Romford is about as far as she wants to go but her consistency on the sectional takes her to the front and she was not coming back last night, running out an impressive four and a quarter length scorer.
The middle leg came from Bluejig Outlaw, also in a six-bend contest. He drove the opening bend well from the striped jacket to gain a lead that he maintained all the way to the line. Still a puppy for another week and a half, it was a first go over 575m, picking up his maiden win for Locke at the fourth attempt.
It was the 9.11 that was the most interesting race for a lot of punters last night with Tiffield Tarquin heavily supported into 1/2 to beat Fabulous Sonique. We were never really treated to the race we'd hoped as Mark Wallis's star was away and gone off a flying 13.32 split to give her rivals no chance of running her down.
March On Luna brought up a hat-trick of wins for Craig Morris, timing her challenge well to get her head in front late in the day. A Romford Puppy cup finalist, she has plenty of adaptability when it comes to track and trip and that should stand her in good stead for a successful 2026.
Both bookmakers and punters took the win of Silver Bucks last week with a pinch of salt. Katie O'Flaherty's charge took that personally and added an 8/1 beating of a similar field to the 14/1 win he picked up seven nights back. He got to the front last night and having got up in the final stride to beat them last week, he was never going to be coming back having turned in front.
Dunstall sees smart performances
Droopys Extragud has taken to six bends like a duck to water, following up a Central Park win with three at Dunstall Park for Heather Dimmock. He and Haka Carlo had an excellent set to last night, the latter leading up and then coming again the line closed to reduce the winning margin to only three-quarters of a length.
The sprint on the card went to Newinn Souly for Kim Billingham-Hine in a decent 15.65. The long odds-on favourite had a wider than ideal draw but he was able to overcome it without an issue, powering to the opening bend.
Nathan Hunt got a winner with Kilara Berb who clocked 28.07, the best time over 480m on the night. He saw off Pain Barrier by half a length in another excellent finish. He's now won all three of his visits to this track.
Kiltealy is a frustrating sort for Dalton Smith. He picked up his second win last night from 14 starts but has the natural talent to enjoy a far better strike rate than that. The ability is there as he showed when getting out and one the bunny, clocking a time 22 spots faster than Droopys Extragud. If he could find that consistently, he'd be a very smart one for the kennel next year.
Three other opens on the card were all over 480m with Lov De Nitelife for Kate Harrison, Ferndale Power for Paul Meek and Ruth Lambe's Billis Hoffa picking up the victories.
