KING CAPALDI proved in tune for backers when posting the fastest time of the round in the heats of the £10,000 RPGTV English Puppy Derby at Towcester, following up his impressive trial stakes win, and setting up a humdinger of a first semi-final at the Northamptonshire venue on Sunday.

All four heat winners from the weekend will clash over the competition’s 500m trip with Liz McNair’s three heat winners – littermates King Capaldi and Queen Shakira, plus Queen Dusty – lining up against each other, with the former just ahead on the clock.

Lining up in heat three, King Capaldi was always in pole position inside off a slick exit with the December 2021 son of Droopys Sydney and Queen Beyonce leading home the always-handy Skywalker Pele (Ted Soppitt) by two a quarter lengths with the winner’s litter brother King Combs staying on well in third in 29.39sec (-30).

The victory completed a heat hat-trick for the McNair team with Queen Dusty kicking off the afternoon with a narrow victory over Velvet Hurricane (Phil Barlow) in heat one, the pair going head to head from the get-go before the January 2022 daughter of King Turbo and Queen Charlotte hit the front down the back.

Sheffield raider Velvet Hurricane came back at Queen Dusty but the RPGTV Puppy Collar finalist held on by half a length in 29.62sec (-40), with favourite Ballymac Diana (Mark Wallis) qualifying for the semi-finals in third.

Queen Shakira was the middle leg of the McNair treble in heat two as another member of the December 2021 Droopys Sydney-Queen Beyonce batch starred, railing into a lead heading into the bend and always holding sway before winning by four and a quarter lengths from littermate King Memphis and Cat Island (Mark Wallis) in 29.64sec (-40).

Coolavanny Mercy, the Coral Romford Puppy Cup runner-up, denied the McNairs a clean sweep in heat four as Angela Harrison’s runner just won the early exchange with Droopys Eddie (Maxine Locke) and set the tempo thereafter for a one-and-a-half length success over the Romford raider and Easy Molly (Vicki Lea) in third. The winning time was 29.54sec (-20).

The McNairs had Queen Georgia and Droopys Crisp in this heat and, while the pair missed out, it was a good afternoon’s work for the Kent-based kennel, just 24 hours after a good show also in the heats of the Ladbrokes Gold Collar at Crayford.

“We got them all through at Crayford, which was great, and then the pups ran great for us at Towcester,” said Rab McNair. “We’ve high hopes for them all and you can see the talent there is. Getting five trial stakes winners and then three heat winners is special and hopefully we’ll be in the final – we should be, but never take anything for granted!

“It’s a very good Puppy Derby – and that first semi-final is special. It’s got four winners in there from Sunday and we’ve got three in one semi and two in the other. However, I’ve got to say I’m disappointed that the trap draw wasn’t done at Towcester on Sunday – or maybe even in the RPGTV studio as sponsors.

“It’s just always behind closed doors and it’s disappointing when we keep hearing about openness and fair play – where was that on Sunday?

“Look, it’s a busy weekend ahead because we’re back at Crayford on Saturday morning – and again we’ve got to be happy with how they’ve gone there.

“We won the Gold Collar two years ago with Warzone Tom. He’s in the semis again two years later – he’s been some dog – and win or lose he’ll be retired. Hopefully he can get through and then can sign off in the final. That’d be great and the perfect way to end his career, but it’s a great semi-final that one, too!”

Trap draw for Sunday’s RPGTV English Puppy Derby semi-finals:-

First semi-final: 1 Cat Island, 2 Queen Shakira, 3 King Capaldi, 4 Coolavanny Mercy (m), 5 Queen Dusty (w), 6 Skywalker Pele (w).

Second semi-final: 1 Velvet Hurricane, 2 King Combs, 3 King Memphis, 4 Ballymac Dina (m), 5 Droopys Eddie (m), 6 Easy Molly (w).