Vhagar leads home a Wallis one-two-three in the Arc Grand Prix

Grand Prix success for Vhagar 

The Arena Racing Company Grand Prix is an event that Mark Wallis has a strong record in. Vhagar provided him with a fourth win in the stayers competition in the last seven renewals, showing the best pace to the bend after a slightly tardy start. She was brave to drive between rivals heading into the turn and once she had gone around in front, there was never a chance of her coming back.

Bombay Nutty got the better of her in the semis last week but he had to settle for second place this time around. He has shown a little bit more sparkle in recent outings which has been nice to see. Newinn Cloud was chopped off on the inside by his kennelmate at the turn but battled on well to almost grab second. 

A little bit of trouble at the opening bend saw Tom Heilbron's pair Ballymac Sargie and Droopys Cardi lose any chance they had along with John Flaherty's Greenwell Bolt.

Both of those trainers had better luck elsewhere on the card. Heilbron saw his star sprinter Bower Sheeran produce a very impressive 15.34 success. He was out-trapped by Sunnyside Jayden on his inside but the straight line speed of the winner was electric and had the race won before the first bend. 

Romeo Hanyu had kicked off a double for Heilbron earlier on the card. He had struggled on his first two starts for the kennel after leaving Laurence Tuffin but off the back of a break, he has emerged revitalised with an A2 win at Newcastle last week, following up in style with a slick exit, never seeing another rival. 

Flaherty scored with Greenwell Tyson who looked to enjoy being back over six bends again. It brought up a hat-trick of wins for him after a pair of A1 successes at Newcastle, chasing home Soapy Suds the last time that he had been seen over this sort of test. 

There was a deeply impressive win from Brian Fairbairn's Slingshot Poppy who did everything right to land a five-length success in 26.70. Her winning time took more than three lengths off the previous quickest of 2026, though it was still 14 spots off the time that she produced to lead all 450m runners in 2025.

Fairbairn was another to double up, Slingshot Leeona getting her name on the scoresheet in the race before Poppy. She's been a solid addition to the graded strength at Newcastle this year, picking up four wins ahead of her maiden open race success here. 

The opening invitation on the night saw Sole Focus back to winning ways for Debbie Calvert. He had been run down late on a couple of times over Doncaster's stiff 483m trip, the drop back to 450m made all the difference to him, just dipping under 27 seconds.

One other invitational winner on the card was Jill Suthurst's Witton Gucci. She was the slowest of the six-bend winners on the night but it was a quick bounce back to form after exiting the Grand Prix in an opening round heat. 

Paul Young with a six-timer at Romford

There were 12 races on the card at Romford last night, Paul Young winning the graded contest which opening up the evening before taking six of the 11 open races on offer. 

Bubbly Crusader picked up where he left off last week with another impressive win over 400m, comfortably leading them up. Hopefully connections can get a long run with him now, as he is a dog that can really liven up a card.

It was an excellent night for the Champagne Club with wins for Bubbly Amber and Bubbly Flame on top of Crusader's success. They were spit by just six spots in their respective 575m victories.

There was a short-priced win in a sprint contest from Lesleys Buddy. The pup has really come alive in recent weeks, making it four wins in his last five starts. The only defeat came in the final of the JR Racing Puppy Cup.

A couple of surprises also featured amongst Young's winners with 7/1 Droopys Rhona and 16/1 Undergroundnicky both turning over odds-on favourites on their way to victory over 575m and 400m respectively. 

There was a quickfire double for Paul Burr in the first couple of races on the card. The first of those was a shock for punters as well with Ballymac Suntan picking up late to grab the money at 10/1. Rolling Rocket got to the front at the halfway mark to grab his second career win.

Izzys Tenpin and Zenith Impact provided a double for David Mullins while Sehnsa Amigo picked up the other open race win on the card for Bradley Stowe.