Monmore Puppy Derby Semi Final Report

My good friend from County Kerry came up on Thursday to take in the Puppy Derby Semi Finals and then Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday. We managed to have a few graded winners before just taking a watching brief on the Semi Finals.

The 1st Semi Final was won by Ballymac Ken in 28.61. Breaking very well he stole a nice lead whilst Coolavanny Dart ran on well to deny Droopys Ivanovic a place in the Final.

The 2nd Semi Final went to Matt Dartnal's Ardmayle Champ. Connections must have been holding their breath round the first corner as he looked sure to end up in trouble. He took advantage of a small gap and then show fantastic pace down the back straight to win in 28.53 when Lenson Threeways grabbing 2nd place.

The 3rd Semi Final winner was the locally trained Droopys Mikel who broke very well but still had to show some real guts round the corner to force Harmony Boy out. Burnpark Champ showed plenty of pace from a very unsuitable draw but could never get on terms with Mikel who won the race in 28.28.

Puppy Derby Final Draw
1 Droopys Mikel - Local Youngster, dream draw, if he traps again could be away and gone.
2 Ardmayle Champ - Very much the eye catcher on the back straight. Will need to avoid early trouble.
3 Coolavanny Train - Running on well in every race, slow starts costing him dear, ran well to reach Final.
4 Ballymac Ken - Has been winning by pinging and leading, but can he do it from Trap 4, doubtful.
5 Burnpark Champ (m) - Wanted 3 or 4 really, on the drift but still has major chance.
6 Lenson Threeways (m) - Shocking draw, Len Ponders dogs always get poor draws at Monmore.

Final Breeding
1 Droopys Maldini-Droopys Beauty Jul-2006
2 Droopys Kewell-Fear Beauty Apr-2006
3 Top Honcho-Coolavanny Blue May-2006
4 Ballymac Maeve-Kinard Pepes Apr-2006
5 Honcho Classic-Burnpark Circle May-2006
6 Tucks Mein-Boozed Libby May-2006

Interesting to note four of the dams are proven and have quality offspring on the ground. Kinard Pepes and Boozed Libby have only been mated once, no dobt now they will be returning to the paddocks again very soon.