Posts tagged b.shah
Jogadusc Ace comes up trumps
Dec 18th
Jogadusc Ace (2-1 favourite) clinched an important victory for Mark Wallis on Thursday night when he went on to represent his trainer in the final of the Winter Derby.
The competition at Henlow’s 460m track began with a classy turnout, but it was always Ace who made the headlines from the beginning through to the end, producing the fastest-track-time of the night in his last three races.
Ace began the race behind trap three, which Wallis said would work to his advantage, since it was his favourite trap.
Indeed, Ace certainly made a good start, gaining a comfortable lead initially, though he was forced to really make use of reserves towards the end in a battle to survive a very tight photo-finish call, clocking 27.48secs.
Camp McNair received the biggest blow of the night, as Droopys Bogart (9-4) came in second at 27.49secs. Both Ace and Bogart cleared from the pack in the early stages, but it was Ace who prevailed to land his camp £2,500. A great asset to the camp, Ace had also earlier bagged the camp a cool £40,000 in the Sunderland Classic final earlier in the year.
The victory provides the perfect end to the year for Ace, and should also help Wallis. The GBGB annual awards are just around the corner, and the points gained from the event will put him in a very strong position for clinching the Champion Trainers award for the second year running.
B.Shah
Hills announce Derby sponsorship
Dec 16th
William Hill has come to an agreement with the Greyhound Racing Association to announce some great news as Hills sign a deal to sponsor all the major races at the Wimbledon track next year.
The agreement consists of sponsoring major events such as the Oaks, Springbok, Grand National, Puppy Derby, St Leger, not to mention the most anticipated event, the Greyhound Derby.
Wimbledon’s track is also set to undergo a radical change next year, with the distance of the Derby possibly being affected – the track may be reduced from 480 metres to 470 metres. The plan is to re-configure the traditional styled track into one standard four-bend trip.
David Hood, director of racing for Hills, said in the Racing Post: “The deal comes at a time of great change for Wimbledon, but I am confident that the transition will deliver improvements in both viewing and facilities at Plough Lane, and we expect to enjoy some great racing. The sport faces some huge challenges – not least of all from the recession – but for now at least, these competitions are secure.
“I’m pleased about the sponsorship, but at the same time I remain cautious about the future of the sport. It has to realise that sponsors don’t grow on trees and making it pay is almost impossible.
The Premier Classic will now be known as the williamhill.com Greyhound Derby, where the first prize of £100,000 has been slashed to £75,000, but it seems doubtful many will be complaining as the deal has probably provided relief for most people involved in the sport.
Clive Feltham, managing director of the Greyhound Racing Association, added: “With £75,000 to the winner, the Derby remains a massive prize – three times the Scottish Derby – and it reflects the tougher environment facing everyone in Britain and Ireland.”
Hills’ will also be making a pay-out of a £25,000 bonus if the winner of the Derby goes on to land a victory at the William Hill Classic at Sunderland, while a further £50,000 will be applied if the winner goes on to produce a treble, winning The William Hill All England Cup at Newcastle.
Sky Sports have also given greyhound racing more to celebrate with the recent announcement of a provisional schedule of 18 races confirmed for live coverage next year, possibly increasing to 36 for the complete year. Just what the sport needs in times like these as it heavily relies on its punters.
B.Shah
Eighteen live meetings confirmed by Sky
Dec 15th
A new agreement to ensure that Sky Sports will continue to cover greyhound racing into 2010 has been announced with a provisional schedule for the first seven months of the year, after talks between the broadcaster and GRA chief Clive Feltham.
The provisional schedule will kick off with its first live event being broadcast at Hall Green in Birmingham for the Betfair Prestige meeting on January 19.
A total of 18 meetings have been listed so far, three down from this year with the Birmingham Cup, Cesarewitch and the Cock O’The North/Scurry double-header having dropped off the radar because of current problems sponsoring the events. Any or all of the events could yet be reinstated when further additions are made to the schedule, or when the programme for the final five months is announced. In all, up to 36 meetings will be covered.
Sky Sports’ greyhound coverage for the 2010 season will be presented by Gary Newbon with commentary from Errol Blyth.
Provision Schedule so far:
JANUARY: Tues 19th Hall Green, Betfair Prestige.
FEBRUARY: Tues 2nd Swindon ARC, Tues 9th Wimbledon Racing Post Juvenile.
MARCH: Tues 2nd Wimbledon Racing Post Juvenile, Tues 23rd TBA Betfair Trainers’ Championship.
APRIL: Sat 10th Shawfield ibetx.com Scottish Derby, Tues 13th Hall Green Blue Riband, Wed 21st Peterborough ibetx.com Puppy Derby.
MAY: Tues 4th Hove Coral Regency, Tues 18th Wimbledon William Hill Derby Quarter-finals, Sat 22nd Wimbledon William Hill Derby Semi-finals, Sat 29th Wimbledon William Hill Derby Final.
JUNE: Tues 8th Kinsley TV Trophy, Tues 15th Hall Green Sky bet Gymcrack, Tues 22nd Oxford Pall Mall, Tues 29th Wimbledon William Hill Grand National.
JULY: Thurs 15th Sunderland William Hill UK Festival of Racing, Tues 27th Hove Coral Sussex Cup
B.Shah
Tyrur Liz looks mighty in Oaks
Dec 8th
The William Hill Oaks created the perfect start to the month for greyhound racing followers as we saw Wimbledon’s 480m track open its boxes to the bitches.
Tyrur Liz was ranked market favourite (5-1) by the sponsors to take the Oaks, and Hills’ odds compiler Ian Magor has certainly been spot on so far as Liz has shown no difficulty qualifying through to the semi-finals which took place on Tuesday.
Liz managed to pull off an amazing performance as she stormed past the rest displaying sheer class and power, qualifying into next week’s final in an impressive 28.53secs.
The Irish-trained bitch can now be backed at 8-11. Winning handler P J Fahy said: “We’ve been in 27 bitch finals in Ireland and have yet to have a winner so we thought we’d come to England and try to break the hoodoo! We always knew Tyrur Liz was special, and have planned this campaign for some time. I’m delighted we’ve got trap six next week. That box is important to her.”
Fahy may be holding an ace in trap six but will be up against some healthy competition next week with Camp McNair holding the queens as both Shaws Dilemma (7-2) and Cabra Exclusive (16-1) also qualified through to next week’s final.
Exclusive managed to secure her place coming in second using her early pace in a time of 28.99secs as did Slick Sioux (14-1) who was awarded third, putting an end to her short lived winning streak of two.
Rab McNair says: “I’m thrilled the pair are through, and what a draw it’s turned out to be for us. Our hope, of course, is that Cabra Exclusive can hold up Tyrur Liz.”
If Exclusive doesn’t manage to hold up with Liz, Dilemma could step in on the day as she currently holds an undefeated record, if she can stretch her record to five, it will bag her a prize of £6,000. Freedom Emma and Little Jig will be the remaining two to take part next week.
Draw: 1 Little Jig, 2 Shaws Dilemma, 3 Freedom Emma, 4 Slick Sioux, 5 Cabra Exclusive, 6 Tyrur Liz.
B.Shah
Lenson Bolt ready to return
Dec 7th
Trainer Tony Collett earlier announced that the return of Lenson Bolt could be sooner than expected, possibly even before the end of the year for a few trial runs.
Bolt was eliminated last month from the Betfred Eclipse semi-final stage. Coming in third with a time of 30.22 secs, he was out-run by last year’s runner-up Romeo Maldini, who produced a time of 30.20 secs.
The outcome of the race wasn’t really a big blow for Collett, as it was later revealed that Bolt went lame picking up an injury – therefore had he qualified, he wouldn’t have been able to run anyway.
“He just came off a bit sore at Nottingham, nothing serious but enough to need two or three weeks off,” said Collett.
“Other than that, it’s very hard to make plans because we’re all waiting to see what next year’s open-race calendar looks like. It’s a bit ridiculous that it’s got to this late stage with no word, although I’d definitely be looking to the Racing Post Juvenile at Wimbledon if Lenson Bolt was invited.”
Bolt has had a great year. One of his best performances this year has to be his pre-eclipse outing at Wimbledon’s 460m, in which he set a new track record of 27.30 secs. He also won the Romford Puppy Cup and the Kent Derby at Sittingbourne.
B.Shah
Bateson retains her title at Shawfield
Dec 6th
Ardkill Tunoco (5-2) credited trainer Julie Bateson with back to-back wins of the ibetx.com St Mungo Cup. Tunoco produced a tremendous performance to reverse Boherna Best’s All England Cup form in Saturday’s £2,500 final on the 480m track at Shawfield.
Bateson always looked like retaining the title once Tunoco had flashed out of the traps and got first run on Best, who gave chase but never threatened to catch up with the leader.
Tunoco ultimately scored by more than five lengths from kennelmate Target Gold, who stayed on late to pass the All England Cup champion for second.
The winning time of 29.36 sec reflected a surprisingly slow track. Bateson said: “I don’t think the slow going affected the outcome, although I suppose it might have helped Target Gold get second as he’s a really strong runner.”
“We’ve always said Ardkill Tunoco is very good when he gets it right and that’s just what he did this time.”
“The St Mungo is a fantastic old competition with a brilliant trophy and one I’ve always targeted since I got a licence. A lot of credit and thanks are due to ibetx for stepping in at short notice to ensure it went ahead this year.”
B.Shah
Wallis holds Aces at Henlow
Dec 4th
Henlow opened its gates to punters Thursday night as we saw the start to the Winter Derby. The first round consisted of six heats and some of the industry’s most familiar names were on the scene, including Mark Wallis.
Wallis has certainly lived up to expectations after being crowned champion trainer for last year at the GBGB annual awards. Ladbrokes’ greyhound trading manager Richard Harkness also added to that yesterday when he said: “Wallis has had a marvellous year and that is being reflected in the number of bets we take for his greyhounds in all competitions”.
Jogadusc Ace (4-5 favourite), the winner of the £40,000 William Hill Classic in July, paid off punters in style as he was the first to shine for Wallis at Henlow. Ace managed to produce the fastest-track-time of the round at 27.56secs in the fourth heat, managing to hold off the second qualifier Hidden Sky who completed the track in 27.62secs.
Another Ace was drawn for Wallis when Eye OnThe Brave (6-1) managed to take heat five in 27.85secs, a race which also saw Guiness Time through to the next round, and the early elimination for Ten Large Down who tried to cut in the first bend but was badly baulked off and as a result came in last.
The draw for next Thursday’s semi-finals will be made at the offices of the GBGB on Friday. It’s very rare to go wrong with Pocket Aces and when your under camp Wallis, you don’t often go wrong, only time will tell although Wallis has proven himself on many occasions to obtain consistency and to produce champion dogs.
B.Shah
Perfect Storm at Nottingham’s final
Nov 27th
Eye OnThe Storm (100-30) stunned the crowd with a great victory this Thursday at Nottingham’s 500m to crown himself the new Betfred Eclipse champion, also pocketing his owner a whopping £8,000.
The Mark Wallis-trained hound may have lost his undefeated streak at the ground in earlier trials, yet produced the results when they mattered most and is back to winning ways taking his tally to 12 wins out of his last 13.
Frisby Forfun (12-1) favourite was one of the five dogs Storm was up against on Thursday night and having clinched a victory over Storm in earlier trials by a short-head, Storm ensured there wasn’t a repeat of events with a tremendous break from trap five using his pace to clear the field as he galloped to the finish line in an impressive 29.51secs.
Charlie Listers duo Fear Zafonic (2-1 favourite) and Jordansoilution (7-2) both ran well in defeat with Zafonic having the better start from trap two, which was short lived after kennelmate Jordansoilution cut across him at the turn, pocketing him the runner-up prize of £1000 in a time of 29.97secs.
Romeo Maldini (9-2), last year’s runner up, also had a good run clocking a track time of 29.99secs finishing in third with Zafonic to follow in at 30.05secs.
Head Iton Ellis (4-1) stole the spotlight at the Semis as he produced the best-track-time on the day of 29.86secs. However he failed on this occasion, clocking a time of 30.15secs awarding him fifth position, with Forfun trailing behind him at 30.17secs.
It has been a privilege to watch the progress of the John Keefe-owned dog, whose career got off to a great start. It took Storm four races before he landed his maiden success, but since then he has been making the headlines.
Storm certainly looks to have an outstanding chance of landing the Best Newcomer Award at the GBGB Annual awards, which will be taking place in January. Wallis is also excited to learn his dog could have some strong support for Greyhound of the Year following a meeting with the Greyhound Writers Association where he was one of the guests of honour.