NEW DESTINY made a superb return to the track with a brilliant display in heat four of the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic over 630m at Monmore on Saturday – clocking the fastest time in the process.

Mark Wallis’s multiple Category One winner last raced in June at Romford in the semi-finals of the Coral Coronation Cup, an event in which she was eyeing a clean sweep of the Essex track’s major 575m events. Back after a spell on the sidelines, the 4-6 favourite wasted no time getting back into the winning groove.

Lining up against Regency runner-up Romeo Empire in a cracking clash to kick off the six-bend annual at the Wolverhampton venue, a faster start from the October 21 daughter of Grangeview Ten set up an early advantage over her chief rival and, clear off the second bend, she went on to score by almost three lengths in 37.65sec (normal).

The victory over staying-on second Romeo Empire (Patrick Janssens) helped trainer Wallis to a treble in the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic heats given Vhagar won heat six of the 630m annual with a strong-running display.

Antigua Kestrel (Kevin Hutton) cut loose here and set the tempo for much of the way before Vhagar came through strongly to score by three and a quarter lengths from the keeping-on Amazing Zeus (Richard Rees) in 37.71sec.

The Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic heats started in great style with a dead heat in the opening heat as nothing separated the always-handy Kim Billingham-Hine’s top local Blu Bert and Mark Wallis’s running-on Newinn Cloud, the latter initiating a treble for his handler with the successes of New Destiny and Vhagar to come.

The winning time for Blu Bert and Newinn Cloud was 38.85sec.

The other Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic heats were won by Deadly Disco (38.03sec) who helped make it a good night for Richard Rees given the Hove handler landed a double in the heats of the Ladbrokes Gold Cup, Belinda Green’s impressive all-the-way winner Gary The Arb (37.66sec) and Nathan Hunt’s Inca Lewie (38.26sec).

Monmore racing manager Tony Williamson said: “I thought it was a fantastic start to the Ladbrokes Summer Stayers Classic, as it was for the Ladbrokes Gold Cup.

“There was nothing really between the times of New Destiny, Gary The Arb and Vhagar – literally three-quarters of a length, so I think that shows you how open it is.

“Fair play to Mark (Wallis) with New Destiny. To come back as she has after some six weeks off is really good, a great training performance, although it does help that she oozes class.

“I really couldn’t be happier with the overall quality of the Summer Stayers Classic – it’s right up there with the best we’ve had.

“Just look how deep it goes in the betting – you’ve got some top class runners around the 16-1 to 20-1 mark – and I’m delighted with how the locals fared. 

“I think Aero Advocate is interesting for Richie (Taberner). He’s got a nice card in Ireland with wins at Thurles, Shelbourne and Clonmel, and was definitely an eye-catcher in the heats when just checking at the pick-up. He’ll learn from that, although so will Romeo Empire who finished behind New Destiny having done a lot of running.”

Photos: © Steve Nash