Taking a Call

My good friend Ray forwarded another classic Kerry doggie story over the weekend about a serious incident in Paddys on Saturday………………

He left the kitchen for 5 minutes at approximately 12 noon to go to the bedroom to do something while some 12 dogs guarded the kitchen.

It is now believed that he received a call from friend at 12.02 however the phone was on silent vibrate and he didn’t hear it on the kitchen table…………..

A coursing bitch believed to be a brindle daughter of Gold Madam took it upon herself to take the call so reaching onto the table she took the phone in her mouth and went outside to get a better reception…………….not to be left out the other 11 dogs followed her out each insisting that it was their turn to answer the phone so between them they did manage to answer but the caller could only hear the sounds of dogs in the background and believed that dogs had each gotten themselves the mobile.

Paddy returned to find the phone missing and went in search…………..he located the remains of the phone minus the keypad which was still missing at midnight last night when searches were scaled down for the evening

The phone now has no screen no battery cover but alarmingly can still make and receive calls albeit you not being able to see the number on the screen

If ever there was an advert for the resilience of a Nokia phone then surely this is it!

Socks on Patrol

Paul kindly forwarded a selection of photographs of Socks (Boherduff Light x Blue Amarillo) out on morning exercise. Now five months old, he looks to be growing well and looking to be enjoying the wide open spaces on Paul's farm.

Faraday Flies & Entries

Faraday pleased us all greatly yesterday in her comeback sprint trial at Coventry. Faraday recorded a very impressive 17.32. Lance said he just could wait to get in the boxes and start chasing. She will return to Coventry next Wednesday evening to trial under lights.

Lisa Invader (S3) and Avenue Guide (A6) are both entered to run on Friday at Monmore. Looking at the entries its looks like Avenue would have more chance of winning. Lisa's Invader looks to be paying for his recent hatrick of wins.

Hi Ho Silver Jaro

A quality day at Cheltenham with good friends, a few beers, two winners and oh yes a free jockeys pass always helps.

Without boring you with our selections we was denied our first winner with Ruby was beat in a photo on Kicks for Free at 12/1. Gutted. Ruby delivered in the next as Celestrial Halo won the Triumph at 5/1. I decided to just watch the Gold Cup as I just wanted to enjoy two of the best chasers in history. Denman was fantastic, well done Harry, nice to see our legend still winning. God knows how much he won. We managed to get in to the winners enclosure to see the celebrations unfold. Cheltenham being Cheltenham I had a few silly £2 bets on No.13 odd horses in the afternoon. For the last race I decided to just have a mad extra bet on £5 EW on Silver Jaro, number 13. Two of my friends also joined in and matched the bet. I had already backed French Saulaire (finished 3rd) at 33/1. Watching from the lawn ready to make a quick exit Noel Fehily clearley fancied his chances when he went clear with two to jump. So may leaders get swallowed up over the last so we kept quiet until he was two strides over the last, then we went totally mad chasing our winner up the hill to win at 50/1!! The even better news was we took tote odds !! 65/1, work that out!! Hi Ho Silver Jaro!! The only other person in the crowd of 65,000 people that had backed Silver Jaro seemed to find us to join in the celebration, the rest of the crowd simply had no idea the secret of our winner, its all in the form. Any no.13's today...........

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.

Trial News

The Prince recorded a reasonable 39.97 (-50) this morning so is now graded on to run over both 4 and 6 bends. He does not stay a true 630 however he can build up some massive leads using his early pace.

This time last year I had a leaving party at the track and Martin did a cracking job of getting the dog in peak condition. He must have led 8 lengths when they passed us first time and won very well.

Let hope the fun continues.

Faraday back in work

Pleasing news from Lances Iceman Kennels this evening that Patch came off sound after a morning gallop and is now returning to full work. If the weather stays reasonable she could will return to the track for a trial within the next couple of weeks.

Avenue Guide could only finish 5th this afternoon at Momore. He showed a bit more early and got his fair share of crowding. I think there is another win around the corner.