ROMFORD racing manager Mark Arkell believes this year’s Coral Romford Puppy Cup is as wide-open as it has been recent years – despite some notable performances in last week’s heats.

Quickest on the night was Maxine Locke’s Goldstar Connie who opened up the 2026 version of the Category One with a standard-setting performance as the Central Park tracker led early on his way to a runaway five-length success over local hope Jacquesinthebox (Dave Lee) in a slick 23.79sec (+20) for the 400m trip.

Next fastest was the Nathan Hunt-trained Whisky Villarico, who clocked the fastest sectional of the first round (3.69sec) before landing a deserved but surprise 16-1 victory by five lengths also from Droopys Pioneer (Maxine Locke) in 23.87sec (+20).

The other heats went the Paul Young-trained Bellini Bullet (24.38sec), Craig Morris’s impressive triallist Darcys Dude (24.08sec), the Gemma Evans-trained Populist (24.03sec) and Seamus Cahill’s Hove raider Cloheena Caelan (24.05sec), with Arkell giving special mention to heat four winner Darcys Dude.

“He impressed us in his trial,” said Arkell. “Clocking 23.66sec first time up takes some doing, but what was impressive was how he battled to win his heat. He didn’t get things his own way but showed a terrific winning attitude to go with his pace. He’s a 28.02sec winner at Monmore so can certainly run – and Craig’s (Morris) is definitely a kennel in-form.

“However, there’s still a long way to go. I remember last year we had a red-hot favourite in Magical Luka and things didn’t quite work out for him, although Scooby Diamond ended up winning and has proved a really good Puppy Cup winner so there’s still time for those heading into the semi-finals and think we’re set for another cracking night here.”