We had a quiet start to the week with no racing to cover until Friday. We galloped a few dogs on Wednesday and most of them worked well. Rioja Oisin has been going well at home and he’s now ready to head off to Dunstall Park for a defence of his Scurry title.

Robert Meek spent the day with us on Thursday and checked over around 40 dogs. It was mostly good news although Dreamin Francis faces a spell on the sidelines with a slight hock sprain. Droopys Berries has been galloping away very well at home following a fracture to his shoulder blade and Rob was delighted with his progress. He’ll be ready for a sprint trial in the next week or two and we can’t wait to have him back in action. He’s a very fast young dog who we hope can have a big 2026.

There’s only one place to begin the review of Friday and that is with the quite stunning performance of Magical Luka at Romford when winning his first round heat of the Puppy Cup.

Once again he flew the lids and ran right away from his rivals to win by just over 8 lengths in a track record equalling time of 23.26.
You’d have to say the 400m Romford record is one of the strongest in the sport so to have a pup equal it really was something very special. Thankfully Luka has taken his race very well and will be in good shape come Fridays semi-final.

Jazzy George very nearly gave us a Romford double as he was just beaten on the line by a short head in 24.04. He flashed the boxes and showed a lovely turn of early pace and is slowly getting stronger with each run. Unfortunately both pups are drawn together in the semi-final so we’re hoping they can keep clear of each other.

Zinedine Zedog ran out an impressive winner of her A2 at Oxford on Friday as she led all the way to win by 4 lengths in a personal best 26.87. She may be the smallest in the kennel but she’s a big heart and absolutely loves her racing. Union Piper gave us a double on the night as she led all the way in her A1 to win by just over 2 lengths in fast 26.68. The standard opens are probably a stretch too far for her but she’s a super A1 lady and has been great fun for ourselves and owners Pete and Christine Sandbach.

We had another busy trial session with 8 dogs going through their paces before racing. Droopys Doris continued her comeback from injury with a 26.89 spin and will head to Dunstall Park next for a look round ready for the Oaks. Rebel Alaska was a big eye-catcher in his sprint trial as he beat Pom Pom and Droopys Creative in 14.99. He’s a near 39kg March puppy but he has a lovely stride on him and really opened up into the pick-up. He really could be anything and we’re all looking forward to seeing him over the 450m trip next week. Jazzy Ace is another very likeable baby and he showed good track craft to come from just behind Untold Ripple to win by 1/2 a length in 15.15. His litter comrade, Jazzy Soul was given his first look at Oxford and he was very green around the opening turns but showed pace in places and clocked 15.47. He’s a lot of filling out and condition to come so he won’t be rushed but it was a pleasing start.

Signet Nayla safely made it through to the semi-finals of the Produce Stakes at Swindon on Saturday afternoon when finishing 2nd in her heat. She had every chance but was beaten by a very smart local runner. We’ve drawn a red-hot semi-final with the top four in the betting all in together so she’ll need to be on her toes next week to make the decider.

Feb 24 puppy, Ollie The Ox made a winning start to his career when showing an awful lot of promise in taking the maiden 450m event by nearly 3 lengths in 27.07. Despite being slowly into stride, Ollie showed lovely early pace to get himself back into contention and ran a brilliant opening two bends. He really opened up down the back straight and was very brave to push his way through on the 3rd bend. He should improve a lot for the outing although it might be tricky to find a suitable race for him with Oxford running no puppy opens. Dog Dog is very green but is showing plenty in defeat and he ran well again to finish 4th in the same race. He was only beaten 4 lengths and left plenty on the track again.

Bonita Moon became the 2nd member of our Good News x Moments of Magic litter to win as she confirmed the promise shown on debut last week when leading all the way in her A4 to win impressively in 27.33. I don’t think she’ll be leading too many 450m races but she really comes home strongly and was full of running to the pick-up.

Start The Engine continued his amazing start to his career when winning for the 11th time in 13 starts as he flew the boxes from trap one to lead all the way in the 450m standard open. He was pushed hard by kennel mates, Dreamin Reggie and Rioja Maxi but always looked like he would hold on and scored in 26.61.

Baroness Velvet is a really smart Feb 24 puppy and despite beginning her career at the deep end she made it 2 wins from her 3 starts when taking her heat of the Empress Stakes at Towcester by a length in 29.52. The time really doesn’t reflect what was an eye-catching performance it was as she overcame a slow start to run a very brave opening bend to push her way to the front. She’s a nice draw in the semi-final and it would be fantastic if she could get through to the decider.

Coppice Lottie was out of luck in her heat of the Empress as she was immediately crowded out of the boxes in what was a very bad draw in trap 5. Thankfully she returned in good shape although she’ll have a short rest after a busy time of it of late. Antigua Kestrel made the most of a drop in class to win division 2 of the 500m standard open by 4 lengths in a good 28.89. He used his draw in 1 to overcome a slow start and really came home well.

As step-ups to all aged company go, it couldn’t have come too much harder for Kranky Drake as he took on the reigning Derby champion Droopys Plunge. Although beaten by 3 1/2 lengths we were delighted with the performance of Kranky and he seems very much at home around there. Venetian Mick is still a puppy and he ran well to finish 3rd after a slower start than last week.