Posts tagged Eye OnThe Storm
Perfect Storm at Nottingham’s final
Nov 27th
EYE ON THE STORM (10-3) 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 £8000. 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) 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 (2-1F) 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.
B.Shah
Can Wallis take awards by storm?
Nov 25th
As excitement mounts over the destination of the Greyhound of the Year title for 2009, the GBGB has announced that the popular Annual Awards Dinner will take place at The Hilton London Metropole on the evening of Sunday 31st January 2010, following a successful, sell-out first year.
GBGB you ask? Yes, the single new industry body, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain will be masterminding this event.
Lenson Joker was crowned last year’s Greyhound of the Year while Mark Wallis was awarded the Champion Trainer Trophy.
Event organiser Amanda Duplock said: “Enquiries about the awards are already flooding in and with debates over who will take this year’s titles beginning in earnest; we’re looking forward to another sell out event.”
Wallis certainly stands a very strong chance in being crowned champion trainer once again and if his hound Eye OnThe Storm produces a win this Thursday at the Betfred Eclipse Finals, he may also possibly be put on the list for consideration, a list which I’m sure Boherna Best is already on.
The event is affordable and accessible for the whole of the greyhound racing industry, ticket prices should be the same as last year at £50 per person or £500 for a table of ten.
B Shah
Head Iton to final
Nov 22nd
Eye OnThe Storm (4-6 favourite) returned to Nottingham’s 500m track this Saturday to take part in the first round of semis for The Betfred Eclipse Cup. The Mark Wallis trained hound set a time of 29.99secs, which was enough to secure first place and see him qualify into next Thursdays final.
Storm once again displayed a great level of fitness as there was some doubt in the race to whether he would win in the start having been out-trapped by both local hope Beautiful City (33-1) and Bandicoot Tipoki (5-1).
Wallis’s hound managed to pace up to the first corner nudging against Charlie Listers Tipoki and eventually taking first place by the third bend in which he simply galloped to victory.
The race was all Storms whilst Frisby Forfun came in at second with a time of 30.21secs eliminating last year’s champion Wise Thought.
Storms time was eclipsed in the final heat when Head Iton Ellis (4-1) made the most of a plum rails draw to comfortably defeat Romeo Maldini (6-4 joint-favourite) in a smart 29.86sec. Ellis once at (33-1) to win the competition is now (6-1); if he can replicate the same performance on the final he will certainly stand a strong chance.
Lenson Bolt (6-4 joint-favourite) was run out of second spot by Maldini who produced a time of 30.20secs over Bolts 30.22secs.
Tony Collette later reported Bolt going lame, he added “It was disappointing to see him get caught on the line, but to be honest had he qualified I wouldn’t have been able to run him. He’s lame but until I get him checked out by a vet I won’t know the extent of the problem. I don’t think it’s too serious, but no matter, that’s him for this year and he’ll be put away for the winter and brought back for next year’s major events.”
Race two of the semis saw another market leader Jordansoilution (2-1) securing his place in the finals with kennelmate Fear Zafonic (5-4 favourite). Great news for trainer Charlie Lister as he now stands a double chance in the final. Starting from trap three, Jordan produced the perfect break and set a time of 30.11secs with Zafonic trailing in at 30.25secs.
The market favourite at the moment is Storm and I would agree as this dog has not failed to produce results. Ellis may have eclipsed Storms track time on this occasion but has not been as consistent. Storm has produced a faster time on the 500m track in previous heats and if he traps well on Thursday night’s final I’m sure he will be the first to cross the finish line.
Draw for Thursday Live Final shown on Sky Sports 1: 1) Frisby Forfun (16-1), 2) Fear Zafonic (11-4), 3) Head Iton Ellis (6-1), 4) Jordansoilutions (11-4), 5) Eye OnThe Storm (3-1), 6) Romeo Maldini (6-1).
B.Shah
Eye On The Cup
Nov 17th
The Betfred Eclipse Cup kicked off this Monday through a course of six heats at Nottingham’s 500m. Eye OnThe Storm certainly made an impression on the day as he returned and displayed no hiccups following last week’s result where his nine-race unbeaten run was ended.
Champion trainer Mark Wallis had complete faith in Storm to produce the results and wasn’t disappointed as everything went better than planned, Storm setting the best-track-time of the day at 29.79secs coming home five lengths to the good of Beautiful City and securing his place in the semis.
The heat also saw the qualification of City who is currently 100-1 to win the competition and also Vigorous Willie who is available at 50-1.
Storm has definitely got his eye on the cup but will be up against joint favourite and defending champion Wise Thought in the first round of the Semis this Saturday.
Thought is the most experienced dog on the track and also last year’s winner. The race should see both Storm and Thought qualify, however if Thought fails to do so then I can positively say that Wallis’s Storm stands a very strong chance of being crowned the new champion from the current form he seems to be displaying to the world.
Trainer Charlie Lister also had good news on the day, with his duo Zafonic and Jordansoilution both qualifying in the heats. The duo will however be up against one another in the second round of the semis. The third qualifier of the heat was Head Iton Ellis (33-1) who will be put into the third race against the likes of Romeo Maldini (16-1) last year’s runner up and Lenson Bolt (12-1).
Ballymac Ruso will no longer be part of the competition and has been withdrawn leaving trap 3 open for the final race having gone lame; this should create a greater chance for Bolt and Ellis to qualify for the final.
The event will be a fantastic clash of talent which will ultimately produce the results for the final six. All odds stated are the odds fixed currently to win the competition. The complete round up of qualifiers can be seen below but the main focus should be on Storm, will he have more than just his eye on the cup?
Semi-final draw – first: 1 Eye Onthe Storm, 2 Frisby Forfun, 3 Bandicoot Tipoki, 4 Beautiful City, 5 Honey Trampas (w), 6 Wise Thought (w).
Second: 1 Tynwald Claudius, 2 Fear Zafonic, 3 Jordansoilutions, 4 Windy Millar (m), 5 Vigorous Willie (w), 6 Farloe Razl (w).
Third: 1 Head Iton Ellis, 2 Glenard Sunrise, 3 vacant, 4 Lenson Bolt (m), 5 Uncle Ollie (m), 6 Romeo Maldini (w).
B.Shah