This weekends first round heats saw the shock early elimination of 2013 Champion SIDAZ JACK throwing the competition open even wider. Undoubtedly the most impressive performance came from FIERY SPLENDOUR who broke the existing track record. If he continues in that sort of form he will be untouchable. It's the second round this weekend with eight heats on Friday and eight on Saturday. Heat 12 looks the most interesting to me which includes Pinpoint Finas, Ballymac Vic and Vanrooney, I can see a decent dog falling by the wayside in this! My early punts are as follows; JAYTEE SEVILLE 50-1 BROTHER JOHN 33-1 FIERY SPLENDOUR 12-1
One of mine was in action in one of last nights eight heats. JAYTEE SEVILLE quailified in second place behind Take The Crown who clocked the fastest time of the night. Jaytee Seville didn't trap as fast as he can and was only beaten 1.25 lengths so I was not too unhappy. The only real noteworthy dog to get eliminated last night was Charlie Listers SOUTHERN MESUL who totally blew the start and then got carried wide at the first bend. Eight more heats tonight and hopefully both of mine will come through unscathed. The heats look better tonight and it will be interesting to compare times.
I am oozing with confidence now after Saturdays second round heats. FIERY SPLENDOUR simply blew them away in his heat. He is electric from the boxes and maintains the pace throughout the whole 480m. If he continues to trap like he has so far then nothing is going to get near him. Another reason to be confident was the elimination of the competition favourite PARADISE SILVA who lost out in unlucky Heat 13's barging match. My third shout BROTHER JOHN totally missed the break in his heat but showed his class by picking a path through his field and passing all bar JORDANS BRIANA. It was a slow heat though and if he fails from the boxes again he may pay the price. Two dogs that impressed me for similar reasons last night were ECCLESTONE and MIND THE NET. Both had very hefty wollops in turn one but both were strong enough not to go over and both came back with a real rattle to qualify second in their heats. If they are drawn away from my three in the next round I will be sorely tempted to add them to my portfolio.
The Third Round draw is as follows; Heat 1 1 Bromwich Tom 2 Swift Keith 3 Underground Paul 4 Salad Dodger 5 Fiery Splendour (w) 6 Thatchers Champ (w) Heat 2 1 Bubbly Gold 2 Blackrose Vic 3 Airport Captain 4 Kingcraig Rory (m) 5 Jet Stream Duke (m) 6 Rayvin Lad (w) Heat 3 1 Jordans Brianna 2 Droopys Odell 3 Mind The Net (m) 4 El Domingo (m) 5 Gizmo Classic (w) 6 Vanrooney (w) Heat 4 1 Jaytee Barzelona 2 Droopys Ward 3 General Wolf 4 Take The Crown 5 Laughil George (w) 6 Roxholme Ted (w) Heat 5 1 Sidarian Teejay 2 Jaytee Seville 3 Droopys Norris 4 Ecclestone (w) 5 Aero Nemesis (w) 6 Westmead Chris (w) Heat 6 1 Metro Jack 2 Farloe Calvin 3 Ballymac Loch 4 Eric Court 5 Brother John 6 El Salvador (m) Heat 7 1 Farley Chicken 2 Benkaat Nero 3 Millwards Joker 4 Jaytee Hawaai 5 Up To It (w) 6 Woolie No Shoes (w) Heat 8 1 Crokers Champ 2 Pinpoint Finas 3 El Flutter (m) 4 Ballygibbon King (m) 5 Holdem Spy (w) 6 Farloe Trent (w)
The competition really hots up now as after Saturday night we are now left with 24 dogs in the competition. Its at this stage that resilience counts as they are out again in the quarters on Tuesday night and the semi's follow on Saturday! Saturday was definitely a mixed bag for me as my main fancy FIERY SPLENDOUR rather struggled through his heat in third place, it could have been worse though as he was close to being on the deck at the first turn. I expect him to clear away from the sort of dogs that were in opposition on Saturday and I am hoping that run was just a glitch. It needs to be as he is in possibly the hottest QF on Tuesday night. I also the elimination of JAYTEE SEVILLE who was a shade unlucky. On a more positive note BROTHER JOHN is through and so are the two added before the Quarters, ECCLESTONE and MIND THE NET. MIND THE NET was so impressive in winning his heat that many bookmakers now have him at the head of the market! More indifferent news followed with the draw. Having four left in you hope they miss each other in the draw but sadly I have two in the very hot Heat 1 and two in Heat 3. Highly likely to lose some more on Tuesday night! 1st quarter final 1 Brother John 2 Salad Dodger 3 Aero Nemesis (w) 4 Vanrooney (w) 5 Thatchers Champ (w) 6 Fiery Splendour (w) 2nd quarter final 1 Crokers Champ 2 Sidarian Teejay 3 Blackrose Vic 4 Kincraig Rory (m) 5 Holdem Spy (w) 6 Laughill George (w) 3rd quarter final 1 Ballymac Loch 2 Jaytee Hawaii 3 Metro Jack 4 Jet Stream Duke (m) 5 Mind The Net (m) 6 Ecclestone (w) 4th quarter final 1 Jordans Brianna 2 Droopys Ward 3 Farley Chicken 4 Farloe Trent (w) 5 Roxholme Ted (w) 6 Up To It (w)
