QUEEN BEYONCE and Argentina were the star turns on the clock as the Coral Romford Puppy Cup began with six heats at a wet and windy London Road venue on Friday night.

A member of the KSS Syndicate home-bred Eden The Kid-Skate On (Feb 17) litter, Queen Beyonce turned in a handy pitch after heading towards the rails early before unleashing a stunning burst of pace to lead approaching the third bend.

The British Bred Oaks third drew clear thereafter to strike for the Liz and Rab McNair training team by five lengths from Knockduff Declan (Martyn Wiley) in 23.93sec (normal). Power Ranger (Seamus Cahill) and Pantone Slippy (David Mullins) dead-heated for third here, with the latter progressing on the toss of a coin.

Argentina continued his love affair with Romford by retaining an unbeaten record at the Essex track when leading at the first bend on his way to leading home kennelmates Drive On Hunter and Signet Hawk. The winning time was 23.94sec, just one spot slower than Queen Beyonce.

“Argentina was bought as a good dog after one race at Galway, and has proved a really nice dog,” said winning trainer Hutton. “That’s his fourth win on the spin at Romford and he’s showing all the early pace he was during the Trafalgar Cup at Monmore.

“He finished second there behind King Sheehan and that’s good form, and he’s running this 400m strongly. He doesn’t have to lead but, of course, it’s a big advantage when he does. He’s got a good turn of foot and really good trackcraft, too.

“The Romford Puppy Cup is always a fantastic event, and he gives us a chance, although they all need luck in the semis now. We probably didn’t get that luck in the draw for the heats, with all our three entries in one heat, but it was good to see Drive On Hunter and Signet Hawk through too.

“Unfortunately the draw gods are against us at the moment, because all three are in the same semi-final again!” rued Hutton.

Dantes Inferno (Alison Kelly-Pilgrim) kicked off the Puppy Cup with a strong-running effort in heat one, coming home powerfully to pass longtime leader Fizzypop Exit (June Harvey) on the run for home to win by one and a half lengths in 24.13sec.

Barrie Draper’s Droopys Wild made the trip down from their Yorkshire base a worthwhile one with an all-the-way success in heat three from Queen Beyonce’s strong-running littermate King Cash. The winning time here was 24.40sec.

The remaining heats were won by Mark Wallis’s Shrewd Honcho (24.37sec) who led off the second bend to beat Ballymac Dress (Bill Black), and Philip Simmonds’ Grays Cup Winner who rode at bump at the first bend before stretching clear impressively to score from Kilara Tain Bo (Laurence Tuffin) in 24.20sec.

Mark Arkell, deputy racing manager, summed up the night’s action by commenting: “It was a cracking night’s racing – all round really. We had the Puppy Cup heats and our usual Friday night finals. It was a very strong card throughout.

“Certainly favourite backers had a decent night in the Puppy Cup and the majority of the fancied greyhounds went through to the semi-finals which makes for some cracking contests next week.

“It was a great achievement by Kevin Hutton to get a 1-2-3 in the same heat, although I’m sure he’s cursing his luck with them all in the same semi. Queen Beyonce for the McNairs was arguably the most impressive performance of the night in terms of the Puppy Cup.”

Trap draw for Friday’s semi-finals:-

First: 1 Drive On Hunter, 2 Calzaghe Flash (m), 3 Fizzypop Exit (m), 4 Signet Hawk (m), 5 Argentina (w), 6 Shrewd Honcho (w).

Second: 1 Bubbly Bonanza, 2 Ballymac Dress (m), 3 Knockduff Declan (m), 4 Glynalan Lad (m), 5 Pantone Slippy (m), 6 Droopys Noodle (w).

Third: 1 Droopys Wild, 2 Kilara Tain Bo (m), 3 Dantes Inferno (m), 4 Queen Beyonce (m), 5 Grays Cup Winner (m), 6 King Cash (w).

Grays Cup Winner wins heat 6 for Trainer P Simmonds