ROMFORD stadium manager Karen McMillan is looking forward to another major night at the Essex venue on Friday as the latest renewal of the Coral Golden Sprint is down for decision.

This year’s running of the £10,000-to-the-winner Category One competition is given an even higher profile with the arrival of the Gone To The Dogs – Live! team and McMillan is ready to welcome the cameras for a three-hour show which will aim to showcase the very best of the go-ahead Romford Stadium and greyhound racing in general.

“We had the team with us for Premier Greyhound Racing Champion Stakes Final night last  year and it was a great night all-round,” said McMillan, “and we’re looking forward to another cracking evening here at Romford.

“We’ve three finals in all, with the finals of the Steve Simmons Sprint and Mercury Marathon supporting the Coral Golden Sprint and I know Mark (Arkell, racing manager) is expecting a good quality of entry for the other opens we’ve advertised. We pride ourselves on our Friday night open-race cards as everyone knows!”

A typically competitive Golden Sprint final will see Fire And Ice look to land a notable double as winner of the Romford Puppy Cup last year. He is now trained by former Romford handler Nathan Hunt, while Tom Heilbron’s Madabout Peck will be looking to land a first Golden Sprint title for Newcastle.

This year’s line-up also sees plenty of local interest in Whitewood Lenny running for Maxine Locke, while Kevin Hutton and Mark Wallis are both previous Golden Sprint-winning trainers and send out Union Rebel and Pavilion Team respectively.

“And with Michelle Brown having celebrated her birthday by sending Roanna Mamba to win his semi-final, there’s again plenty of big-race stories. Like Fire And Ice, he was also in the Puppy Cup final here so, again, that shows the class we’ve got on show,” added McMillan.

Fastest in the semi-finals on Friday was the Tom Heilbron-trained Madabout Peck as the Newcastle raider maintained an impressive unbeaten record at Romford – hitting his straps quickly and making all.

Joined by the pacing-up Whitewood Lenny (Maxine Locke) at the bend, Madabout Peck held the advantage and went on for a four and a quarter length success over the local hope in a standard-setting 23,70sec (normal) for the 400m trip.

Fire And Ice overcame a midfield slot with a burst of pace into the turn in the opening semi as last year’s Coral Romford Puppy Cup champion rode a bump at the bend before escaping the pack and winning by two and a quarter lengths from Union Rebel (Kevin Hutton) in 23.95sec (normal).

The final two places in Friday’s Category One decider went to Michelle’s Brown’s Roanna Mamba and Pavilion Team (Mark Wallis) with the former making the slickest of starts to lead the charge and keep the latter, who paced up off a moderate exit, at bay by a length in 23.92sec (normal).

Trap draw for Friday’s Coral Golden Sprint Final: 1 Fire And Ice, 2 Pavilion Team (m), 3 Roanna Mamba (m), 4 Union Rebel (m), 5 Madabout Peck (m), 6 Whitewood Lenny (w).