MARK WALLIS heads into Friday’s semi-finals of the Coral Coronation Cup at Romford with a huge hand after dominating last week’s heats of the 575m annual with four of the six heat winners.

New Destiny (pictured) set the standard for the boss of Imperial Kennels in heat one as the ante-post favourite was soon in command inside and never looked in danger.

The October 2021 daughter of Grangeview Ten and Coonough Dolly, a half-sister of kennel star Coonough Crow – a later winner on the card over 750m herself – streaked away for an 11 and a quarter lengths success over Ballintee Noshow (Maxine Locke) and Hazelhill Coco (Carl Jackson) in 34.82sec (normal).

Kennelmate Minnie Bullet, a versatile sort and runner-up last year in the Ladbrokes Gold Collar, was back to winning ways in heat two as the January 2021 daughter of Good News and Moanduff Daisy trapped in front and made all, holding the staying-on Baywatch Bullet (Belinda Green) and Droopys By Amile (Nathan Hunt) in 35.41sec (normal).

Fabulous Sonique then completed the Wallis hat-trick in the Coronation Cup heats with a turn of early pace setting up a first-bend lead and three-quarters of a length success for the red-jacketed runner over running-on Untold Paanga (Nathan Hunt) and Allowdale Cazoo (Nathan Hunt), the Peter Bussey Memorial winner, in 35.75sec (normal).

Tromora Rex then stopped the Wallis bandwagon in heat four as an eventful heat saw the John Mullins-trained runner slip to the front as Ranchers Wolf (Mark Wallis) took out leader Underground Roxi (Paul Young) off the fourth bend when looking all over the likely winner. He was subsequently disqualified by the Romford stewards.

It left Tromora Rex in front to go for a five and three-quarter lengths success over Annual Bono (Paul Young) and the rallying Ranchers Wolf in 35.45sec, with the latter qualifying for the semi-finals but missing out. Trap two in the second semi on Friday will be vacant.

Ballymac Diana then put Mark Wallis’s team back on the right track in heat five, making all the running to score in 35.18sec (normal) as the 6-1 chance turned over odds-on Miami Bullet (Paul Young), a KAB Maiden Derby finalist at Towcester, with a top show of front-running to score by four and a quarter lengths from that rival and Joes Sagar (Belinda Green) in a slick 35.18sec (normal).

Swift Radiantly was another big-priced winner of heat six as Seamus Cahill’s bitch blasted out in the midfield and made all to win by six lengths as her rivals crowded behind. Cooladerry Dust (Nathan Hunt) came out of the pack to finish second and make Friday’s semis ahead of Ballymac Johno (Mark Wallis). The winning time was 35.36sec (normal).

Mark Arkell, Romford’s racing manager, said: “First off, well done to Mark (Wallis) and his team. They had six winners in total on the night and the kennel is well represented in the semi-finals of the Coral Coronation Cup.

“Overall, it was great to have a full open-race card again and so much quality on show. It’s something we have missed for a while on Fridays, so we’re really pleased with the heats and are looking forward to the semis now. We also have competitions to run alongside the main event so hopefully the entries keep coming in here at Romford.”

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=411445&raceId=1041856

Form and trap draw for Friday’s semi-finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Romford/form-guides/FRIDAY-PROOF_2024-05-31-211847.pdf