NEW DESTINY set the standard with the fastest time of the night in the very first official trial stakes for Oxford’s Bet365 Challenge Cup over 650m at the Cowley venue on Friday.

With an oversubscribed entry for the GBGB Category One competition, no less than eight official trial stakes were staged with invitations extended to the first three in each to make up four first-round heats this Friday – and Mark Wallis’s bitch will top the entry in terms of times clocked last week after an impressive effort.

Pacing up well on her way to a 15.03sec sectional – also the fastest of the night before conditions became more testing later as the temperature dropped – the October 2021 daughter of Grangeview Ten and Coonough Dolly was soon in command on her way to a four-length success over Havana Top Note (Liz McNair) in 39.60sec (-30).

Next quickest was 2022 St Leger champion Havana Lover in the fifth official trial stakes as Liz McNair’s runner continued her good recent good form when reeling in early leader Minnie Bullet (Mark Wallis) after halfway before going on to score by three lengths fro the Gold Collar runner-up in 39.90sec (-40) for the six-bend trip.

Local trainer Chris Hamblin had earlier sent out fast-starting Ela Maestro for an impressive all-the-way four-and-a-quarter lengths success from Mad For Sterling (Mark Wallis) in 39.98sec (-30), a time matched by Gold Collar finalist Aayamza Sydney as he made all to score by from Gagas Merry (Robin Jury) by three and a quarter lengths.

Matt Dartnall’s Lively Lauren (40.14sec – 40) began her Challenge Cup campaign with victory in the sixth official trial stakes, leading early before holding the challenge of Gutsy Jet (Kevin Boon), while other trial stakes were won by Ballymac Johnjo (40.69sec -30), completing a double for Mark Wallis, the David Lewis-trained Alright Patricia (40.05sec (-40) and Kevin Boon’s Farneys Willie (40.52sec -40).

Oxford racing manager Simon Pearson said: “Conditions became tougher as the weather began to bite, but the track handled it well and was in great condition – and saw a number of really nice performances. Then again, we expected that given a top-quality entry for what was a very popular competition – we had 58 entries in the book.

“New Destiny looked very good and looks open to improvement, too, while the usual suspects Havana Lover and Lively Lauren showed their class once again. Both run Oxford really well and you feel Lauren will come on for the run – she’s only run twice since mid-September, so there’s definite scope for improvement. I thought two other nice winners were Chris Hamblin’s Ela Maestro and David Lewis’s Alright Patricia.

“It’s a very good competition with some great races to look forward to in the coming weeks.”