Yes, it's not a mirage. We have five decent quality open races to grace the sand this evening. It's great to see these races, along with a good graded card in my opinion. Here's my preview of the races:
19:57 - The Abbey Meads Sprint
My Pick: Glenbane Air
Decent quality sprint race is this, and realistically I think it's Glenbane Air's to lose. 'Barney' as he's known, trained by Kevin Hutton, has won three sprints on the bounce at both Swindon and Coventry, and has translated superbly to this distance. If he keeps up the way he's going, he can become a top sprinter in, what has to be said, is a very diminished division at the moment. Glenbane shows some great early pace, regularly trapping consistently, even from the dreaded one box in sprints. After this, I think the Sky open race scene must beckon for him. The good thing with having a great quality sprinter is that you can pick up races on Sky with relative ease. The National Sprint at Nottingham must be a target also.
For the places, I'm keeping on the rails, and am expecting Kilmalady Biffo to once again challenge Glenbane for the win, and I think Forest Breeze will be there or there abouts. Kilmalady Biffo has been running very consistently in these sprints, however he's now been beaten twice by Glenbane. I still think he thrives a short four bends. Somewhere like Romford would be brilliant for him at this time in his career. Forest Breeze, trained by Heather Dimmock, looks a pretty decent sort in sprints, however he doesn't look to have the best early pace kick, and in this race it looks to be a case of what leads wins.
My Pick: 2-3-1
20:29 - The Abbey Meads Standard
My Pick: Taranis Rex
For the third consecutive week, I'm bigging up Taranis Rex in this one. However, I do foresee some traffic issues for the former Gymcrack champ. Although I agree that Rexy's best trap is about trap 2-3, He's got, potentially, alot of traffic problems on the rails in the form of Captain Messi and Sharies Miller. Messi can trap, and if he does, it could make things difficult for Rex in terms of getting round the first bend. The same goes for Sharies Miller. Matt Dartnall's bitch, a recent finalist of the Brighton Belle, has some good early pace, and, In my opinion, also has the wrong seed tagged to her. She should really be a middle runner. Alas, now Rex has the issue of getting round Messi at the bend, but also dealing with, potentially, Sharies Miller moving off. Still, if it does all go his way, and even moderately if it doesn't, I think Rex has the class to see these home.
Looking at a couple of the other runners, effectively you can cross the 4 and the 6 off your picks. These greyhounds are trained by the new trainers, Terry Atkins and Ken Mitchell, and by the looks of things this open is an avenue to these two grading on. Hats off to them, its like being paid to trial on!
I think you'd be daft to rule out Ken Humphrey's runner here, Jacobs Courage. He recently ran pretty well in a maiden at Nottingham (and looked punted aswell!) and with the way the draw's made up, and the dogs he has around him, he could nip round here and mount a challenge.
My Pick: 3-5-1
21:01 - The Abbey Meads Maiden 509er
My Pick: Call Poacher
This is a pretty good maiden race this, with a case being made for pretty much all the runners here, however I'm siding with Jim Little's Call Poacher. Poacher ran last week in the same distance trip and ran a very good race in behind Forest Bonjo. I thought he ran on very well, proving that this sort of trip looks his ideal. Over 4 bends, he looks to have a kick of early pace, and if he can translate this into 509, he could win this relatively easy.
There will be some challenges, however, with the early pace on his outside that will be shown from both Inismore Impact and Kays To Blame. I do have my doubts as to whether Inismore Impact will see this trip out all that well, as he looks, again, more of a short four bend dog when he's on the bunny. I think Kays To Blame could be a very interesting forecast link. Alan McDowell's bitch recently ran in a very good A2 race, clocking a particularly fast time. I think this further 4 bends is more up her street.
Another interesting runner is Ray Evan's Oh Pretty Woman. She's been flying home in A2's recently, and trialling on in an impressive time over the 6 bends. This trip will be ideal for her, so expect her to be flying at the finish.
My Pick: 2-5-6
21:17 - The Abbey Meads 509er
My Pick: Matties Mate - NAP
I freely admit to checking the racing post website for this race before I started writing for this race, as looking at the make up I think Mate could be the bet of the night. To my amazement, he's a fairly big price in the paper. Hence, I've made John Peterson's charge my NAP. Mate has hit a really good bit of form recently, competing in top grades here at Swindon, and picking up a brilliant open race win at Coventry last weekend. He broke his maiden duck over this trip, clocking a decent time in the process. The reasoning in this race is that Forest Ted will be moving off slightly into the trap 4 lane position, and I feel that Mate could lead round. I think if he leads, not alot will catch him.
The big danger in this race, rather obviously, is Forest Bonjo. Paul Foster's charge is running out of his skin at the moment, and looks the short price favourite in this race. I should think his main goal for the year is the Winter Stayers event at Monmore, the same form of competition he placed 2nd in a couple of runs back.
My Pick: 2-5-4
21:49 - The Abbey Meads Stayers
My Pick: Lottes Girl - NB
Wahey, a winner for an outsider! In all seriousness, Heather Dimmock's Lottes Girl is a class act. She looks ripe after being off for a little while, with the obvious goal looking to be the TV Trophy at Monmore. She came back flying with a win over 714m at Crayford, showing her trademark early pace and staying on like a steam train. Although this trip is much shorter than what she's used to, I still believe she'll win this comfortably. If she's pitched anywhere between 10 lengths off the first place, keep your eyes open!
For the minor placing's, I'm looking at Kevin Hutton's charges in Five Alley Pub and Penskey Rain. Pub looks to be, potentially, the pace setter in the race, kicking on and leading round, and Penskey looks more the late rallier.
Without sounding disrespectful, to me Scala Cosey, Silverton Blaze and Wise Totty just aren't firing at the moment, and they've been particularly disappointing in their last few races. I hope they can turn the form around, however with class above them in these races, I can't see it happening here.
My Pick: 2-1-5
In the next couple of weeks, I'm looking to write up blogs about our potential hopefuls for the upcoming BAGS intertrack that will be taking place nearer the end of the year. For those that don't know, we will be competing in a group with Oxford and Poole, with the winner of the group heading to Perry Barr on the Sunday before Christmas. As with last year, there are races for:
> Standard Dogs
> Standard Bitches
> Standard Mixed
> Standard Puppy
> Sprint
> Stayers
I'm hoping to do a blog on each distance to see what dogs we have that could, potentially, run in the competition. Any thoughts and views you have would be greatly appreciated. You can post on the bottom of this blog post if you wish, or talk to me at the track.
Happy Punting!
Chris Watts
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