Socks Off

Socks won his mixed trial in 18.01 last week so will be leaving Paul to join Lance Burford this weekend. It didn't seem that long ago we were sending Belle off to Paul for her first mating. Now the first litter are going out to trainers and the second litter to Droopys Maldini are looking amazing. Thank you Paul for your efforts.

Liberty Strikes Gold

Special Liberty, owned by Livi and Gary Noble, kept our amazing ante-post betting run going when landing the Final of the Peter Bussey Memorial Trophy at Crayford this morning. Once she lead round we were very confident of picking up again from Mr Victor Chandler who laid a very generous 5/1 prior to the first round. Congratulations to Livi and Gary who both put a lot in to the sport.

90 Up

The Prince (Lisa's Invader) is having his 90th race at Monmore tomorrow afternoon at 5.39pm. I'm sure he will be making every effort to get his 22nd win on his card. If he leads.....he wins.....Fingers crossed.

Ballymac Kewell Latest

Steve Murphy, Kewells owner kindly dropped me a update which is very interesting. He has now covered a few of Liam Dowlings best bitches and has just sired his first ngrc winner here , Eeza Red Devil, whilst it is a moderate start there are a couple of really nice pups coming through. A 14 month old pup has joined Pat Rosney whom is an aeroplane. Given Droopys Woods passing he has the pedigree and talent to become a direct replacement given these early pups take off.

Mark Wallis on Fire

I couldn't make the Puppy Derby Trial Stakes last night as I was kindly given a ticket on the half way line to watch Manchester Utd v Blackburn. You can't really turn down a ticket to watch the European Champions can you ? Kinda Ready looks to have firmly made himself the ante-post favourite after winning in 28.01!! What a run. Litter sister Kinda Free landed the Divsion 2 Stake when winning in 28.79. Other Trial Stakes winners were Kaboot Bluebird (Mel Baker) 28.72, Thurlesbeg Nonie (W Critchley), Lethal Ace (S Cahill) 28.50. From all those who ran tonight Kinda Ready is one that looks a cut above. This week will see a few more dogs have their finals trials before the competition kicks off. Is there one in there to give Ready a race ?

Droopys Woods

It was very sad to hear that Droopys Woods has passed away after a short illness. Bred by the Dunphys and owned by friend Paul Ephremsen he landed the Gymcrack Puppy Championship in 2000 at Hall Green. After retirement through a wrist injury he stood back with the Dunphys before heading to ZigZag Kennels. He was a great success at Stud and his off spring included Droopys Shearer and Ballymac Kewell. This picture was taken at Coventry when he returned from Ireland. He pulled by arms out and won't take his eyes off the track. RIP Old boy !

Socks Flies Again

Socks showed exceptional early pace in his trial on Tuesday going over 40 spots quicker than what we hoped for. He will now have a mixed trial next week and if all goes to plan we may send him to a UK based trainer. At the current stage we are unsure whether he will stay 525, if he does he could be extremely promising.