Super Saturday as three Cat One events start with a bang

Heiress's perfect start to his Kent Plate defence but Lady is fastest

There was an excellent start for Proper Heiress as he kicked off both his 2026 campaign and his defence of his Arena Racing Company Kent Plate title in fine style. He could have been forgiven being a little ring rusty but he powered to the front after a missed break to turn on the class for Mark Wallis, breaking the beam in 28.68.. 

The best time of the heats came from Scooby The Lady for Richard Rees. She is absolutely flying at present, producing a 2.98 sectional on her way to a 28.48 run. It was the third quickest time that has been seen over the 491m distance here, just Droopys Display with the 28.45 track record and Proper Heiress last year with a 28.47 effort have gone quicker. 

There were two winners for Maxine Locke on an exceptional evening for the kennel around the country. Quicker of the pair was Headford Dane who produced an excellent 28.58 to see off Slick Sentinel. The pair dominated the market beforehand but it was rather more one sided on the sand with three and a half lengths the winning margin.

The Other Chief produced Locke's second winner with a 28.84 triumph. He was led up by local runner Snowdon Mel who has been in smart form herself of late but once the winner cleared her around the opening couple of turns, there was only ever going to be one winner. 

Heat number one went to Jason Heath's Burrows Charm. He was helped by his two main market rivals both being slowly to stride but he put himself into position to score early on, and given that he is a former track record holder here over further, it always felt an uphill struggle for those rivals to be able to back run him, clocking 28.98. 

Droopys Graph took the other heat for Patrick Janssens. He found a bit of trouble but he stayed on stoutly to get the job done. Although his 29.04 was the slowest of the winning heat times, the lessons he has learnt to get himself out of trouble and home in front is going to be a help going forward with a big Derby campaign in mind.

There was a double on the undercard for Nick Carter. 664m is on the short side for Burgess Sophia but things worked out well for her late on with the gaps opening which saw her running on strongly to spring a surprise for punters at 11/1. The final race on the card went to Barnfield Story who continued her progression. She is a litter sister to Don Rocco who had made a smart start himself.

A novice stayers trophy went to Kevin Proctor's Front Polo. He was a smart winner in the heats last week and justified his position at the head of the market from the front. There was a single sprint on the card which went to Paul Donovan's Thurlesbeg Pablo  

Underground Gold quickest in Puppy Derby where Locke wins three

Six heats of the Ladbrokes Puppy Derby got underway at Monmore. There was a spectacular performance from Underground Gold for Paul Young as he produced a 27.79 run, the quickest heat win by a whopping 42 spots. Just Proper Heiress and Gary The Arb went quicker in 2025 to bring some context to what he achieved. He is now odds on to win the event and just 25/1 to land the Derby.

Maxine Locke enjoyed an exceptional night with three of the six heat winners. Quickest of hers was Droopys Script, winning for the second time in four starts. All of his runs have come at this track so far, clocking 28.21 for the best of his times. 

Droopys Vicar was just a couple of spots slower, making his race debut last night. It was a strong way to kick off his career having been purchased for a five-figure sum out of the Sheffield sales in February. A September 24 pup, his dam is a litter sister to Juvenile Classic, Kirby and Laurels finalist Droopys Edison. 

Locke's third heat winner was Droopys Sturdy. He did things from the back, last early on but taking advantage of a race that fell apart in front of him a bit with Good Acclaim showing his brute sprinting pace to go clear in the early stages before his stamina gave out late on. 28.38 was the winning time.

The other two heats were both surprises for punters but hopefully someone in the Richie Taberner team had the double on as Holding Aero and Holding Blaze won at 33/1 and 16/1 respectively. The former had some experience as a graded at this track which he put to good use, backing up an A3 win from that time.

The latter has only been seen in three open races to this point, following his litter brother to success two races later. Aero Thunder chased Holding Blaze home to make it three for the litter into the semis next week. 

Four for Hutton at Oxford as Mick sets Hunt Cup standard

It was another excellent Saturday night at Oxford for Kevin Hutton. Venetian Mick was the quickest in the four heats of the bet365 Hunt Cup despite not coming away as well as he can. Unbeaten through the BetGoodwin Maiden Stayers Series over the same 650m back in November, he has won seven of his 11 runs over this track and trip.

Powerhouse Duke is starting to make a name for himself as a stayer for Seamus Cahill. He has now won three of four since stepped up in trip, his only defeat coming in the opening round of the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket, taking a decent scalp in the shape of Hutton's Resonate last night. 

Speaking of the Golden Jacket, The Other Winx was a finalist there for Maxine Locke and she picked up a win in the opening heat. She showed the best early pace to the bend, with Ballymac Madgie chasing her home, producing another rock-solid effort at Oxford.

The final heat went to Malcolm Bosh for Angie Kibble. He has made a string of competition semi-finals after finishing third to his litter brother Eagles Respect in the Produce Stakes last September. 

There was a surprise in the final of theultimatetipster.com Sandy Lane Sprint as Beaming Isla got the job done for Maxine Locke. She made the final of the Silver Salver last year, so she has previous in top level sprints, coming away well to take advantage of her position inside Avarua Lake and Jazzy George who had fought out the battle to go off favourite. Mythical Batman won the final race on the evening to bring up a treble for Bonville Kennels.

Hutton's three winners on the undercard came from Signet Bucko, Ollie The Ox and Silvertown Blues. It's now five wins on the bounce for the first of those, a missed break helped him as he slipped up the inside of first bend crowding to poach a big enough lead. Ollie the Ox made it six wins in eight starts with his success, down a little in weight for his 2026 return last week having been 39kg last year. The last named made all the running to back up her win from last week.

Three other opens on the card all saw defeats for odds-on favourites. The winning trio were Drohobych Galaxy for Chris Hamblin, Swift Oilean for Dalton Smith and Belmullet Bruiser for Seamus Gaughan.

Dunstall treble for Nathan Hunt

Goldcash Warrior set a new fastest of the year over 480m for Nathan Hunt, four lengths in front of the previous quickest of 2026. It was a fifth win in seven starts for Hunt, once more looking every inch like he has a competition in him later on this year.

Hunt's Sams Magic produced a bit of a surprise result when getting the better of his kennlemate Bang On Edith. She went under 3.00 on the sectional to run into an early lead and the half-sister to Coronation Cup finalist Teddie kept finding off the front.

A sprint contest produced the opening leg of Hunt's treble, a 7/1 success for Got The Large. His first win for Hunt came in a D4 at Monmore, picking up his first open race success last night.

Bogger Cash continued his run of strong staying form for Mark Newberry, winning for the third time in four starts. His 39.78 was another fastest of the year on the night.

Kim Billingham-Hine landed a victory with Rallying Cash over 480m. He picked up the front-running Whisky Man (for Hunt) late on . Another six-bend contest saw a win for Seomra Ophelia in a blanket finish. The first four home were covered by barely a length with Christopher Gilbert's pup grabbing the money in the final strides.

Three for Watson at Doncaster

Doncaster's card was purely opens and it was Susan Watson who came out with three winners on the card, including another for the rapidly progressive Droopys Typical. She showed the best early gears to get herself to the front in a 450m contest and there was no way back for her opponents once she turned in front.

Miller Spirit and Swift Kev were Watson's other two winners over 483m and 450m respectively. The former was making it three wins on the bounce when fending off Samantha Lapidge's Ballymac Ivana with the pair pulling well clear. The latter dropped back into a sprint last week for a winning effort, doubling up over a more regular distance for him.

Lapidge had a winner herself with Gothic Joshua. He has proven to be an excellent pickup for the kennel, winning seven of his 15 races since joining. He shapes as if he is better now than when he was a 29.40-29.50 dog at Towcester last summer.

There weer doubles on the night for Rose Draper and Debbie Calvert. Draper got a sprint winner with Crokers Darwin who found things easier than taking on the likes of Colliers Bucholz and Rental Crisis around Sheffield last time out. That pair would fight out a sprint to close the card with Paul Prior's runner coming out on top. Draper would also win a stayers contest with Rockmount Lucy.

Calvert's double kicked off in the opening race of the night with Annadown Panther springing the surprise of the evening, winning at 7/1. Blueys Elle was better fancied later on the card, seeing off the consistent Tiermana Rocky.

Longacres Miss was on target for Pat Doocey getting up late on to make it a 2/2 start to her career. A half-sister to Sussex Cup finalist Quill Quids, she looks a nice type. A maiden sprint went to Hobo Canyon for Craig Williams. Shee has been hitting the woodwork in recent weeks, picking up a well-deserved success.