LIZ MCNAIR took the training honours in the heats of the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic at Monmore on Tuesday, landing an impressive double courtesy of Havana Lover and Warzone Tom.

The Category One competition, which shared the stage at the Wolverhampton venue with the heats of the Ladbrokes Gold Cup, was moved to Tuesday after Monmore cancelled racing across the weekend heatwave.

Lining up in heat one of the 630m annual, Havana Lover was backed to reverse Juvenile Classic form at Towcester with Antigua Sugar (Mark Wallis) – with both youngsters making the transition from four bends to six.

Soon handy behind the fast-starting Bockos Belly, the pair proved the stronger with Havana Lover coming through to land the spoils by three and a half lengths from Antigua Sugar and Bockos Belly in a fastest-of-the-session 37.87sec.

Just one spot slower was kennelmate Warzone Tom who raced away off the back of a fast start in heat two – and quickest-of-day 12.32sec sectional – to score by ten and a quarter lengths from Great Name That (Gary Griffiths) and Bettys Book (Kevin Boon) in 37.88sec.

Amaze Me Seb underlined the promise of his trial stakes effort by winning heat three as Richard Rees’s runner came through powerfully to score by a one a half lengths from Nipsey Hustle (Carol Weatherall) and Coolavanny Aunty (Angela Harrison) in 38.18sec.

The other heats were won by the Kevin Hutton-trained Magical Firebird (38.39sec), Belinda Green’s puppy Low Pressure (38.05sec) and the George Cunningham-trained Narcos Tata (38.36sec), the latter narrowly from Tom Heilbron’s Darbys Delight.

Monmore racing manager Craig Gardiner was delighted how both the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic and Gold Cup heats panned out.

He said: “I thought the first round of both competitions was superb, with some of the best dogs in the country on show. Both events oozed quality, although it felt somewhat strange holding the heats on a Tuesday afternoon.

“Competition nights on a Saturday at Monmore are special. The place is packed and the atmosphere electric, but you can’t beat the weather and all roads now lead to this coming Saturday which I’m sure will be a superb meeting which we’re all really looking forward to.

“Obviously the McNair kennel stole the show in the Summer Stayers with both Havana Lover and Warzone Tom winning their heats well and posting the two fastest times. They were both really impressive in their different ways.

“Lover had to battle to get to the lead but stayed on really nicely, while Tom is all about pinging the lids and catch-me-if-you-can over this sort of trip which he did. However, I also thought Amaze Me Seb ran a great race.

“He’s improving with every run here and, if he can actually get round without finding trouble, could post a seriously quick time. I’m also not forgetting Low Pressure from the Belinda Green kennel.

“Here’s a trainer riding on the crest of a wave at the moment. Her team is on fire and who knows what this dog is capable of doing in the semi-final? The stage is set for three superb semi-finals of the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic.”

Draw and form for Saturday’s semi-finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Monmore/form-guides/Saturday-20th-Aug-Advance-Card.pdf

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=388167&raceId=865218