Thursday action came from Newcastle and Valley

Speedy times at Newcastle

Three open races at Newcastle last night were over three different trips with each of them won in smart times. Clonbrien Piper took the staying contest at 9/1 for Jimmy Fenwick, picking up the running at the fifth bend from Brian Fairbairn's Grouchos Hawk who has set the early fractions. 

It had looked an exciting clash between Zenith Pasha and Droopys Bookem prior to the contest but it didn't ever materialise with the former sadly coming off with an slight issue that will keep him out for four weeks. That means he will miss the Winter Festival at Shelbourne which is a huge shame for connections and for fans of the sport. 

Although Fairbairn was out of luck with Grouchos Hawk, his Glengar Yeats picked up the 480m contest in a smart 28.40. He showed smart early gears to get himself to the opening bend in front out wide and maintaining the gallop well. It was a night that favoured those in the outside traps, so runner-up Naochra needs plenty of credit for his run.

The sprint went to Tom Heilbron's Little Pretender who won the battle for early supremacy with his kenneltmate Unanimous Leo. It would be unfair to downgrade the winner too much just because he was in stripes and the runner-up sported the red jacket, but it certainly didn't hurt him. He trapped best of the bunch and having quickly taken control, he dipped under 17 seconds to score. 

Rawlings with Valley double

There were a couple of staying races at Valley yesterday which both went the way of Adrian Rawlings. Ashway June has proven well suited to this distance and taking a step down in class compared to some of the rivals that she has been taking on of late. She was well on top in a race where she went around the opening turn in front and progressively pulled clear of her rivals, eventually running out a 19-length victor. 

Rawlings other winner came from Grovenor Anna who was making just her second start over this far. She had done well to get as close to the winner as she had done in the first of those, running since in both a sprint and a four-bend contest. It was not until the run-in that she got on top over six bends, showing remarkable versatility to be so competitive no matter what the distance of the assignment that she is given.

James Danagher picked up a win over 460m with Quivers Quest in a messy finish that saw her get marked awkward by the stewards. It was a fourth win for her in her last seven starts, so she has been in decent form, with wins over both four and six bends here. In one of the other three she had failed by a short head to pick up last night's runner-up Ohtherejet.

Hawkfield Blitz took the other four-bend open for Tony Morgan, turning over a red-hot favourite for Mike Burton in the process. The winner had finished runner-up in four of his five starts since last getting his head in front so was not winning out of turn, clocking up a second-place finish over all three distances in that time. 

There was also a pair of sprints on the card with the quicker of the two winners being Coding. She had shown the best pace to the bend for Christian Darch and managed just to sneak far enough clear to turn over another short one, this time Ashway Blastoff for Rawlings, who went under by a short head after a slow start. 

It was Macauley Simpson who was responsible for the other open race winner in Hawkfield Dash. They all came away in a decent line but the winner paced his way around the outside to the lead at the second bend, kicking away impressively up the straight. He has not stood a huge amount of racing, with this just his 11th start of the year, but he was a tidy winner.