Tarquin takes off in Coral Essex Vase semis

Tarquin impresses in Essex Vase romp

There would be few more popular winners of a Category One competition than Tiffield Tarquin. The interview with owner Bill McColl who owns the dog with his wife Jenny during the Derby at Towcester last year was one of the best moments of 2025.

Their star performer was exceptional at Romford last night, smashing out and making all in his Coral Essex Vase semi-final. His split of 13.26 was only two spots slower than Gary The Arb's sectional when he broke the track record, and he had Belinda Green's runner three lengths behind him.

He won both his heat and semi of the Coronation Cup back in October before finding New Destiny too strong in the final and the Mark Wallis team will be hopeful their bitch is set to strike again when it really matters form the red jacket next week. She was a length behind kennelmate Table Toppers in her semi from a tough draw in four but from the inside of the field, she has much stronger claims.

Out The Blue is the second unbeaten finalist alongside Tiffield Tarquin. Maxine Locke's middle runner saw off Wallis's Silverhill Adam for the second straight week in her semi-final. Four of her last five runs have been between 35.30-35.38, a remarkably consistent run of form from her.

In the Coral Silver Maiden, it was Zenith Kindy who set the standard in the semis for David Mullins. He didn't trap like he can but he managed to turn in a position that allowed him to take up the running as they came around the final two turns. Breffni Una came further back to grab the other qualifying spot for Jamie Kingsley. 

Funky Adz had been behind Breffni Una in the heats, making no mistake from the front in his semi for Paul Young. He was belatedly getting off the mark in this country at the 12th time of asking, having arrived from Ireland off the back of a couple of solid wins at Dundalk. Obi Kenoby chased him home for Paul Burr to claim the other spot in the decider. 

After trouble, the battle between Westway Dancer and King Floyd ended up as the slowest of the three semis, but the margin was the smallest of them. It was Cornelius Condon's dog who just came out on the right side of the photo over Dan Brabon's but both will be hoping for a clearer run next week.

On the undercard there was another winner for Mullins as Piemans Goalie continued on his run of rude health. He was the quicker of the two heats of a 400m competition with Katie O'Flaherty's Silver Bucks winning the other. He is another who has been flying of late, winning for the fifth time in his last eight starts.

There were 575m competition heats as well, with Mister Baileys coming out the quicker of the winners for Simon Deakin. He had won five of his last seven graded races at Dunstall Park and stepped up on his first look at Romford on New Year's Eve. The first heat was won by Miami Yeats for Martyn Wiley. He had been knocking on the door but had failed to add to his debut win from August until yesterday.

Nathan Hunt kicked the card off with a winner in the form of Anglesey Prime. He'd had a rough ride around in a Silver Maiden heat last week but made up for that in style. The card closed out with a winner for Untold Ariary. Glenn Foot's raider from County Durham will have given the team some consolation for Antigua Eagle missing out on a spot in the Essex Vase final having finished third earlier on the night.

Sunderland double for Heilbron

There was also open class action at Sunderland on Friday night where Ballymac Sargie and Parkview Sprite combined to give Tom Heilbron a double on the card. The former was winning his fourth straight start across three different tracks, while the latter has not had much action for Heilbron but had signed off in Ireland with a very smart 28.36 at Cork. 

Ballymac Deboss won the best race of the night, seeing off Naochra in the final of a 450m minor competition. Track position was all important here with Carl Jackson's winner going around in front while John Flaherty's runner-up had to come from the back of the five runner field to close the winning margin down to half a length.

A pair of sprints went to the favourites, with only two spots splitting the pair of them. Slingshot Gazza was marginally the quicker for Brian Fairbairn, with Ted Soppitt's Sunnyside Gurkha taking the other. 15.40 and 15.42 read well in the context of the top times at the track overall, adding further credence to the thought that we have a decent bunch of sprinters at present. 

The other open on the card went to Franchyarrow for Mark Bulmer. It was his first win since joining the kennel but had kept warm company prior, his other two January runs had seen him behind Unanimous Leon and Deerjet Rocket.