KEVIN HUTTON heads into Saturday’s semi-finals of the BGBF British Bred Puppy Cup at Oxford as trainer of the three heat winners – and no less than six semi-finalists – after a stunning start to the year for the Derby-winning handler at the Cowley venue.

The 450m British-bred competition is kicking off the big-season at the track and the weekend’s heats produced some excellent fare from the pups with the Hutton treble including success for two littermates, the pair coming from the latest impressive batch of youngsters from super-dam Forest Natalee.

Coppice Ella was quickest on the clock in the race of the round as she came through a real battle with Keefill Maverick (Phil Milner), albeit the pair were both led by Romford Puppy Cup third Romeo Cypher (David Mullins).

However, ultimately it was Coppice Ella, an April 22 daughter of Droopys Sydney and Forest Natalee, who came through to edge out the always-handy and eye-catching Keefill Maverick, who led down the back before succumbing to the winner close home for a length success in 27.02sec (normal).

Third here was Union Rebel (Kevin Hutton) ahead of Romeo Cypher, with the first four qualifying for Saturday’s semi-finals.

Dreamin Bea had initiated the littermate double for Hutton in heat two with a fast start helping her to edge both Cowgirl (Tom Levers) and favourite Keefill Dares (Phil Milner) into the turn, at which point the latter was crowded out of contention.

Thereafter, Dreamin Bea always held the advantage to score from Cowgirl, with the winner’s kennelmates Southfield Petal and Coppice Frank making it through to the semis. The winning distance was a length and a quarter with the winning time 27.42sec (normal).

Union Blizzard had kick-started the Hutton treble in heat one with an impressive front-running performance, albeit runner-up Keefill Goose (Phil Milner) lost nothing in defeat in second, keeping up the pressure on the winner who crossed the line three-quarters of a length in front in 27.11sec (normal).

Pro Cooper (David Mullins) finished third here, ahead of Beach Bull (Tom Levers), bolstering still further a decent locally trained show in the first GBGB Category One competition of the year given its matinee slot.

Simon Pearson, Oxford racing manager, said: “We didn’t quite get the number of British-breds we’d hoped for, but have ended up with two cracking semi-finals in a race we first staged last year when Watchall Sid won for Carl Jackson.

“That was Carl’s first major win so was a good story and I’m pretty sure we’ve got a great story brewing in this year’s event. Kevin (Hutton) clearly has a strong hand, but I’d imagine Phil Milner is happy with how his runners went, although Keefill Dares had absolutely nowhere to go in his heat.

“We’re looking forward to another good, if busy, year at Oxford. We’ve got the TV Trophy effectively replacing the Galaxy Marathon and I’m sure Space Jet’s supporters will be hoping she can go one better than in last year’s Galaxy!

“That’s to come but we’re now looking forward to the semi-finals and final of the British Bred Puppy Cup in our new Saturday morning slot on SportyStuff TV.”

Trap draw for Friday’s semi-finals: https://oxford-stadium.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/OxSatAM13thJan2024BGBFPUPPYSEMIFINALform.pdf