BLUEBERRY BULLET set the fastest 630m time at Monmore this year when winning her heat of the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic at the Wolverhampton venue on Saturday – on another good night for her trainer Mark Wallis.

A four-timer on the night for Imperial Kennels saw three heat successes in the six-bend event and one in the stage-sharing Ladbrokes Gold Cup – but it was Blueberry Bullet who set the standard in the Summer Stayers Classic as the August 19 daughter of Confident Rankin and Cabra Twister was always dominating heat five.

Soon handy, the Bruiser Boyz-owned runner came home almost four lengths clear of Regency finalist Cold As Ice (Jimmy Fenwick), clocking a red-hot 37.72 (normal), and now faces a semi-final clash with kennelmate Bo Shine Bullet after the Kent St Leger winner finished close up behind Carol Weatherall’s heat three winner Nipsey Hustle (38.43sec).

Billy Boyle, part of the Bruiser Boyz syndicate, said: “We’re of course really happy to have both Bo Shine and Blueberry qualify for the Stayers Classic.

“We were hoping and expecting Bo Shine to win, but on reflection and having spoken to Mark, it was a case of just qualifying and to bring her gently to the boil as the competition progresses. We also know she comes forward for each look at a track and Mark feels she’ll step up on that run next week.

“Blueberry was very impressive and is a bitch we rate very highly. It was some performance in only the 12th race of her life and just her third six-bend race. To match a Derby semi-finalist in Cold As Ice for pace to the three-quarters before asserting I thought was very impressive – and it was a massive clock to boot, the quickest of the year.

“She’s only now started to come right in her coat so I think there’s more to come and she has a bright future. Having said that, I was gutted to see both drawn in the same semi in what looks to be the hottest of the three, but that’s what we have. They are drawn the right way round and will go to traps next week expertly prepared by Mark and his staff again.”

The Wallis kennel treble in the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic heats was initiated by Fatboyz Exile (37.90sec) in heat two after a trap-to-line effort and completed with the consistent Ivy Hill Skyhigh (38.06sec), another all-the-way winner in heat six.

Defending champion Kingsbrook Glyn started his campaign in good style with a solid effort in defeat in heat four as Kevin Hutton’s dog blazed a trail early before being reeled in by local hope Guiri Steve, who struck for Chris Fereday in 38.10sec, finishing a head in front of last year’s winner.

The remaining Summer Stayers Classic heats was won by Liz McNair’s Warzone Tom (38.09sec), still unbeaten over six bends, who caught Coolavanny Bani (Angela Harrison) at the third bend before going on to score by almost two lengths.

Form and trap draw for Saturday’s semi-finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Monmore/form-guides/Saturday-14th-Aug-Gold-Cup-Summers-Stayers-Semi-Finals.pdf