MONMORE was forced to hold over the three remaining heats of the Ladbrokes Winter Derby after an issue with the 480m traps meant the Wolverhampton venue was only able to stage four and six-bend races from mid-meeting.

Tony Williamson, Monmore’s deputy racing manager, explained: “We had a gantry failure after the third Winter Derby heat which prevented use of the 480m boxes. It meant we were only about to stage two other races on the night – a 630m contest won by Kevin Boon’s Bettys Book and a 264m sprint won by George Cunningham’s Little Emir.

“These were races from the far side boxes which were unaffected,” added Williamson, who confirmed the remaining three heats will be staged at the track on Tuesday. “We are especially sorry to connections and trainers but had no alternative and will include these races on our normal Tuesday fixture. Kennelling will be at noon.”

Fastest of the three Ladbrokes Winter Derby which were run was the 28.74sec (-10) clocked by the Kevin Hutton-trained Bull Run Norris in heat one who overcame a slow start to hit the front down the far side before holding the renewed challenge of Druids On Song (Mark Wallis) by a head, with close-up Trionas Travel (Ernie Skeech) the other qualifier.

Heat two was won by Ballydoyle Luigi as the locally trained runner continued his fine run when overcoming a slow start to lead at the fourth bend and race away to score by two and a quarter lengths from Goldies Mabbutt (Chris Fereday) in 28.78sec (-10), with March On Ted (Jamie Kingsley) also qualifying for next week’s semi-finals.

The victory for the October 2019 son of Kinloch Brae and Fear Emoski completed a hat-trick of wins for this in-form sort and his delighted his winning trainer Paul Sallis.

Sallis said: “It was another good win from Luigi – he’s running really well just now. We’ve always thought a lot of him and he’s always been in top company. He can hamper himself with slow starts sometimes and means he then has to find a way through runners, so more often than not finds trouble but he’ll keep on trying.

“Things opened up well for him to win again and I’m just delighted for his owners, particularly Martin Lloyd. He sponsored the memorial competition in memory of his late wife Joyce which Luigi won before the Winter Derby. That was pretty special and this is pretty special too. Hopefully we get a decent draw when the semis are made.

“I know the track had issues with the last 480m heats, but until that moment things had been going okay. Chelsea won the Club World Cup which I had an eye on late afternoon, then Luigi wins his Winter Derby heat. It was going well!”

The last heat before the malfunction was won by the George Cunningham-trained Narcos Dode as the All England Cup runner-up produced a strong-running effort to catch leader Aussie Captain (Patrick Janssens) at the third bend before going on to score by two and a quarter lengths in 28.80sec (-10). Hardy Rebel (Angela Harrison) qualified in third here.

 

TUESDAY saw the remaining heats staged with victory in heat four for the Richard Rees-trained Burnchurch Mick who made all impressively to clock 28.30sec (normal) from Starcash Henry (James Gaskin) and Callmesteve (John Mullins).

Heat five went to George Cunningham’s always-handy Narcos Tata (28.59sec) who came again to score from Ivy Hill Skyhigh (Mark Wallis) and Jaguar Jacko (Graham Rankin), while the concluding heat six saw Mark Wallis’s Antigua Woofwoof (28.69sec) hold Bubbly Apache (Paul Young) and Jaguar Macie (Graham Rankin) in a driving finish.

Draw for Saturday’s semi-finals:

Semi-final 1: 1. Jaguar Macie, 2. Ivy Hill Skyhigh, 3. Ballymac Luigi, 4. Narcos Tata (m), 5. Jaguar Jacko (m), 6. Narcos Dode (w)

Semi-final 2: 1.Burnchurch Mick, 2. Starcash Henry, 3. Antigua Woofwoof (m), 4. Bubbly Apache (m), 5. Hardy Rebel (m), 6. Druids On Song (w)

Semi-final 3: 1. Goldies Mabbutt, 2. Aussie Captain, 3. Callmesteve (m), 4. Bull Run Norris (m), 5. March On Ted (m), 6. Trionas Travel (m)