Posts tagged Eye OnThe Storm
Top Dogs (20/01/11)
Jan 20th
Three greyhounds to follow for today’s racing: http://greyhound-racing.bettor.com/top-dogs-20-01-11/news/1338023
Mark Wallis trained Eye Eye Pickle faces early retirement
Jul 28th
In another blow for Imperial kennels, who not so long ago were forced to retire star dog Eye Onthe Storm due to an injury sustained at the English Derby, Eye Eye Pickle’s career has now also come to a premature end.
Eye Eye Pickle, the March 2007 son of Droopys Kewell and Cherry Sparkler, ran a total of 45 races under champion trainer Mark Wallis, winning on 18 occasions.
He was forced to retire after picking up an injury during a trial at Yarmouth last week.
Owners Peter and Aaron Goddard were present to watch him and it became obvious that Pickle, who at the time looked likely to record something special on the clock, had sustained a broken hock.
Trainer Wallis said in the Racing Post: “It’s a real blow for our kennel and for the owners of the dog. He’d done a great trial at Sittingbourne recently and was going to clock a pretty decent time at Yarmouth until he broke down.
“Eye Eye Pickle won plenty of races for us, and we’ll always remember the night he beat the Derby winner Bandicoot Tipoki by half-a-length during the Trainers’ Championship meeting at Doncaster.
“The vet has fixed the injury, but one thing’s certain, he’ll enjoy a good retirement.”
Pickle’s biggest prize in his racing career came after just nine races as he went on to bag The Greyhound Stud Book Trophy at Monmore over 480m to award connections with £2500.
The multiple open-race winner ends his career with an estimated total earnings of £9,050.
Mark Wallis’s entries for the williamhill.com English Greyhound Derby
Apr 30th
Mark Wallis is a man who needs no introduction to any greyhound racing enthusiast – he’s a trainer who has continued to dominate the sport in recent years by producing a number of big-race winners including last year’s Derby winner Kinda Ready. This year he will be represented by a total of 13 hopefuls attempting to claim the £75,000 prize on offer by sponsor williamhill.com.
The prize may have been slashed by £25,000, but it’s still one of the biggest prizes on offer in the sport and considering the number of entries this year, it’s pretty obvious that it hasn’t put anyone off.
Eye Onthe Storm (7-1) – Is currently topping the ante-post market as favourite. He is no doubt the people’s champion and one of the shortest-priced Derby favourites for quite a while. He recently picked up the Blue Riband at Hall Green and was also a key player in March when his victory at Doncaster crowned Wallis the Betfair Trainer’s Champion. He does however have a tough first-round draw in trap five in heat 10 tonight, and will have all supporters biting their fingernails, but without doubt has a great chance of landing back-to-back Derbys for the Imperial Kennels.
Dalcash Scolari (66-1) - A brilliantly fast and lightly raced dog who demonstrated his ability in the Trainers Championship at Doncaster that he’s up there with the best. He has had two very good trials at Wimbledon and is one of the best-backed dogs in the event so far. Another very tough first-round heat with only the first two qualifying and a draw in trap three is far from ideal but with luck on his side this heavyweight could go a long way, we’ll find out on Saturday when he competes in heat 33.
Eye Eye Pickle (100-1) - Another greyhound who showed he has what it takes to go a long way when beating Charlie Lister’s Bandicoot Tipoki at Doncaster and a recent impressive trial (28.77sec). He will still need to get some help with draws on the rails like his first round heat but I feel confident that he has quarter-final plus written all over him. He will be racing tonight in the opening heat.
Jogadusc Ace (125-1) – Last year’s Derby semi-finalist seems to have retained all of his ability and would have given Eye Onthe Storm a race in the Blue Riband final if he hadn’t stumbled out of the traps. He has great early pace and a great record around Wimbledon which could again see this kennel favourite in the latter stages of the competition but is another who faces a tough first round heat and draw on Saturday in heat 29.
Directors Spur (150-1) – A youngster who made the high-class Monmore Puppy Derby Final, he should go a few rounds and then who knows what might happen. He will be in heat 17 on Friday.
Eye Onthe Flash (300-1) – Flash will be in heat five tonight and is an occasionally brilliant greyhound, as his recent track record at Sittingbourne shows. This brother of Eye Onthe Storm could attract a few followers. Consistency is the key and he has the ability to make an impact in the event.
Adageo (300-1) – A largely unheard of dog in the Imperial kennel’s but with a few wins in the grades at Harlow, he has had a few people asking questions about him and is one of a few wide seeds. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him go a few rounds. Adageo will race in heat 31 on Saturday.
Kinda Handy (500-1) - Maybe a chance of using his good early pace to nick a couple of rounds but would need to improve to feature in the latter stages. He will be running heat nine tonight.
Kinda Easy (500-1) – St Leger hero who loves Wimbledon and dropped back in trip for the Derby could be one of those wide seeds who can keep qualifying but has a tough first-round heat to overcome. Won in last year’s first round at a big price. Easy will be in heat 27 on Saturday.
All That Noise (500-1) – A greyhound who has recently stepped up in trip and was impressive in his 575m Romford victory, but is another who faces a tough first round. Noise will be running heat 25 on Saturday.
Aero Bolt (500-1) – Promising youngster who hasn’t had the best of luck to date but that could change. Looks a strong sort and could need to be stepped up in trip after the Derby. Hard first-round heat for him tomorrow in heat 12.
Eye Onthe Tempo (500-1) – A big outsider but more than capable of qualifying a round or two. Has a good draw in trap one on Friday (Heat 16) and that might be worth a second look.
Blonde Banjo (1000-1) – Unexposed young dog who has just come to the kennel, didn’t trial too badly and may cause a surprise or two. Banjo will be in heat three tonight.
They say lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice; well it may just do at Wimbledon for Champion trainer Mark Wallis who looks to have a strong chance in landing the Derby once again. It’s unfortunate not to see Kinda Ready making a title defence, but regardless, the Imperial kennel seem to have a solid chance.
Ten Large Down takes Juvenile
Mar 3rd
Ten Large Down (8-1) amazed the crowds at Wimbledon on Tuesday night in the Racing Post Juvenile as he took first, rewarding his camp with a healthy £5,000 across the 460m stretch.
The Diane Henry-trained dog was a rank outsider among market favourites Eye Onthe Storm and Pat Buckley’s Newlawn Class (the 7-4 joint-favourites), who are both also the ante-post market favourites for the William Hill-sponsored Derby in May.
Henry was hoping for Down to be drawn on the inside of Eye Onthe Storm for the race and was lucky enough to receive just that.
As soon as the hare crossed the mark, the traps were released and Down smashed out of trap three perfectly with no margin for error. He made great use of pace to maintain his lead on Class who also had great early pace but lost momentum as he stumbled slightly on the turn.
The only other threat of the night for Down was Shaws Dilemma (7-1) who continued to chase but failed to prevail as Down galloped strongly to take first, clocking 28.10secs.
Trainer Mark Wallis’s Storm could only produce a third, he clocked 28.34secs. Dilemma went on to take second in 28.33secs.Down ultimately brought a whole new level to the race with his performance on the night.
Henry said: “Ten Large Down has always been a dog that runs a track better and better the more times he goes there.
“His big target this year will be the Derby, and the plan has always been to give him as much experience of Wimbledon in the build-up to the competition as we can.”
Down has certainly proved he can compete with the best, as a result of the Juvenile his odds to take the Derby have already been slashed from 50-1 to 25-1. If he continues to produce the same results, he could surely prove to be a worthy contender this year.
Four out of four for Wallis at Sittingbourne
Feb 26th
Mark Wallis has had a rather slow start to the year. Last night, however the champion trainer saw the return of a few popular names among his kennel, who didn’t disappoint at a rain-soaked Sittingbourne.
The first to represent Wallis in a BAGS meeting across 450m was Jogadusc Ace (6-4 favourite) who was looking to put last week’s disappointing defeat behind him, and did so by clocking an impressive 28.18secs and taking the first race.
Eye Onthe Storm (1-5 favourite), the ante-post market favourite for this year’s William Hill- sponsored Derby, also made a return to Sittingbourne, and managed to replicate last week’s performance with another successive victory which marked 15 from his last 17 starts.
Storm clocked an impressive 29.68secs, defeating runner-up Plassey (12-1) by three-and-a-half lengths and Wallis believes Storm is now fully fit and will take part in next week’s Racing Post Juvenile.
Kinda Easy (6-4 favourite) and Corrig Vieri (5-2) doubly represented team Wallis in the Stayers over 642m. The St Leger hero Easy took first in 41.12secs, as the 2009 Arc champion Vieri trailed behind, clocking 41.39secs.
A new rising star Jodu Fame (5-4favourite) who made his debut in January, gave Wallis his fourth success on the night, as he added another victory to his name and clocked an impressive 31.26secs across 500m.
Wallis literally cleaned up at Sittingbourne and has his sights set on a first major competition of the year by taking the Racing Post Juvenile. The Juvenile line up was announced in full this week and it looks set to be a fantastic race with all the leading Puppy competition winners in 2009 present plus Pat Buckley’s Irish raider Newlawn Class who got the better of Eye Onthe Storm on Oaks final night.
Wallis issues Storm warning
Jan 28th
Mark Wallis, champion trainer of 2008, will most likely retain his champion trainer title at this Sunday’s GBGB award ceremony. Wallis was ranked the highest at the end of 2009 with regard to the most victories gained. All in all, the night should prove to be a good one for him and his camp to celebrate their achievements across the past year. However, 2010 hasn’t quite started as smoothly for his camp.
The weather has been the main problem to the start of the year, not only for Wallis, but for most trainers and even tracks, but to complicate things further, his Imperial kennels have been hit by a savage virus in the last 10 days.
Wallis has said the greyhounds that do not have the bug seem fine and have been bouncing, as the worst thing you can do is run them when they are not a hundred per cent.
Kinda Ready, his Derby winner, was the first star Wallis brought back to fitness, and the dog returned showing no signs of change, as he delivered a blistering effort clocking 15.06secs (normal) round the two-bender at the Birmingham track a week ago.
This week, it was the Betfred Eclipse winner, Eye Onthe Storm who was put to the test on the tracks, managing to clock 14.35secs on Hall Greens 233m track.
Wallis has plans for Storm with the Racing Post Juvenille Championship around the corner, and Storm will make a great contender if he gets back to normal fitness. Storm currently holds a record of 12 wins in his last 14 and that says this year big things will be expected from this dog, and Wallis expects him to improve considerably.
Storm is also currently the favourite in ante-post markets to take the Wimbledon Derby this year.
Wallis said in the Racing Post: “He had the sickness a couple of weeks ago, but is absolutely fine now.”
“ He’d done very little since his last run on Oaks night at Wimbledon last month, and we decided to trial him over the shorter sprint trip at Hall Green [they also stage sprints over 258 metres]. The going was slow, and Eye Onthe Storm went well.”
The Racing Post Juvenille final will be televised on Sky on the March 2nd.
B.Shah
Derby winner ready, willing and able
Jan 21st
Derby winner Kinda Ready made his return to the track at Monmore for a two-bend trial run on Tuesday.
Trainer Mark Wallis brought his star back to fitness following a loss of form and a winter break, where Ready enjoyed time off with his breeders, Ian and Brenda Seymour.
His return showed no signs of change, as he delivered a blistering effort clocking 15.06secs (normal) round the two-bender at the Birmingham track.
“He obviously likes Monmore, and it’s such a great track for a dog to run on. At this stage a sprint there is ideal for him,” Wallis said.
“After that run, I might give him a four-bender at the track next week as he’s obviously bouncing.”
“The Trainers’ Championship isn’t that far away and the dog needs six to eight weeks to get fit.”
The expectation for Ready was to produce something in the region of 15.40-15.50sec, so he seems to be heading in the right direction so far.
Ante-post markets are currently offering odds of 66-1 for Ready to take this year’s Derby. His kennel mate Eye Onthe Storm is the current market favourite at 14-1.
B.Shah
Kinda Ready to return
Jan 5th
Kinda Ready, the 2009 Blue Square Derby champion, bagged his camp £100,000 with the victory at Wimbledon’s 480m track last summer. Ready was a 66-1 shot at the start of the competition and was an underdog in the final itself, offering last bets of 25-1, which would have surely pleased his backers as he shocked the crowd that night.
Ready’s performance followed with a disappointing campaign in the Paddy Power-sponsored Irish equivalent at Shelbourne, and has been enjoying time-off to rest ever since, with his breeders Ian and Brenda Seymour.
He is now back with trainer Mark Wallis and is set to take the first steps to defend his crown at Wimbledon.
Wallis said yesterday in the Racing Post: “He came back to Imperial Kennels just before Christmas and looks particularly well. It’s lovely to have him back. Obviously, with the weather as bad as it is at present, there’s not much we can do with him.
The Derby will now be sponsored by William Hills, who have slashed the first prize money to £75,000, still a massive prize.
Ready currently stands at 100-1; the current favourite is his kennelmate Eye On The Storm who has had a terrific year with an extraordinary winning record which may give him an edge in winning the Greyhound of the Year title later this month.
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.