OWER BOY BULLET set the standard in the heats of the Coral Sussex Cup at Hove on Thursday as June Harvey set her sights on landing another major competition on the south coast

Having won the Regency with Clares Kyletaun, recent ex-Irish intake Ower Boy Bullet trapped smartly on his way to a fluent all-the-way success in heat one, clocking 29.57sec for the 515m (normal) – only King Turbo has posted a quicker time this year.

It was a performance out of the top drawer and has thrilled the Harvey camp, especially in light of a career-ending injury suffered by their kennel flag-breaker Clares Kyletaun in Ireland in preparation for the Corn Cuchlainn.

“Kyle is doing okay,” said Matt Redman, son of trainer Harvey. “He’s still with Pat (Buckley) in Ireland and we’ll bring him home when the time is right. He’ll be only lead walking for three months or so. Pat is gutted, as we are of course.”

However, the performances of Ower Boy Bullet have cheered the Hampshire kennel given he defended an unbeaten record in the UK in the Sussex Cup, making it three wins from three starts as he went clear from runner-up Corrin Boyshane.

“Were delighted with him, pleased with the run and he seems to have come out of the race fine,” added Redman. “We bought ‘Bullet’ through Martin Lanney, who rung me on a Friday night a few months back about how impressed he was with this dog.

“I’ll always remember the call for mainly how excited Martin was in his voice. We had a quick chat and asked him to find the owner and see if he was for sale – and a price! Thankfully the deal was done there and then.

“The original plan was to bring him straight over but being so close to Christmas he stayed with Martin and we decided to keep him there for Kirby Memorial at Limerick. He was doing good times in trials, so we knew we had a good one.”

Knocked out after a troubled run in the second round at Limerick, he was then entered in a smaller event at the same track and won semi-final and final – only Kirby Memorial winner Droopys Davy went quicker on finals night.

“That night, Martin handed him over to Pat (Buckley), as he was staying with us for the Derby. We’d intended to have Bullet in the Derby too, but he injured a wrist in a trial so we pulled him out and have given him plenty of time.

“He’s now three-from-three and, along with two trials at Hove, has been under 30 seconds in each We’re enjoying him and now it’s fingers crossed in the semis. Unfortunately, our two are together, but Clash also ran a cracking race behind Sporting Dave.

“It’s unfortunate but it happens, and we have to take it and do our best to get them both through. I thought overall it was a great night’s action with no shocks and the semis look even. Well done also to Hove for their work on the track. It ran great.”

Ante-post favourite Brinkleys Poet consolidated his position with a solid front-running effort in heat six as Matt Dartnall’s Select Stakes champion kept up the gallop well to cross the line clear of Bit View Knight in 29.79sec.

The other Coral Sussex Cup heats were won the aforementioned Seamus Cahill-trained Sporting Dave (29.78sec), Dan Brabon’s Trade Fudge (29.82sec), Carol Weatherall’s Calico Ranger (30.06sec) and Tony Collett’s Karlow Scolar (29.95sec).

Draw for Thursday’s semi-finals:-

First semi: 1 Dusko Popov, 2 Bit View Knight, 2 Aithusa, 4 Clash, 5 Ower Boy Bullet (w), 6 Calico Ranger (w).

Second semi: 1 Dorotas Hooligan, 2 Cloncunny Major, 3 Karlow Scolar, 4 Deanridge Boffin (m), 5 Corrin Boyshane (w), 6 Droopys Zaza (w).

Third semi: 1 Ninja Fortune, 2 Sporting Dave, 3 Celtic Ash, 4 Brinkleys Poet (m), 5 Newinn Shadow (m), 6 Trade Fudge (w).