CENTRAL PARK racing manager Rob Killingbeck is looking forward to Saturday’s semi-finals of the Arena Racing Company Kent Silver Salver after a night of surprises and high-class performances in the Category One sprint event.

Wins for big-priced duo Slaneyside Swade (12-1) and Zenith Scorpion (14-1) set the tone for the night in terms of underlining the fine margins in sprints, said Killingbeck.

“They were two good wins from Slaneyside Swade and Zenith Scorpion, absolutely on merit, if not expected,” he said. “We actually had high hopes for Slaneyside Swade’s kennelmate Thurlesbeg Pablo in heat one, but Paul Donovan still got the winner which was a silver lining for the kennel and us here at Central Park.

“And even Crafty Alejandro (9-1) was a big-priced winner of his heat, although was not completely unfancied given he’s trained by Mark Wallis – not many of Mark’s dogs go off at such a big price! However, he was up against Magical Luka who I think we were all relieved to see qualify given he’s top class.

“Talking of top class, Shadow Storm was all of that and got it done nicely. He’s the one to beat now you’d have to say, although a shout out to our other heat winners on the night in Shadow Storm’s kennelmate Avarua Zlatan and Nightingale Crew. That was definitely a popular winner, cheered on to victory from the terraces!

“We had ten railers, four middle seeds and four wides go through, so the semi-finals of the Arc Kent Silver Salver have got a good look to them and we’re looking forward to another fantastic night’s open racing here at Central Park on Saturday.”

Fastest of the six heat winners was Richard Rees’s GBGB Sprinter of the Year Shadow Storm who was soon in charge in heat four as he raced away for a three and a quarter length success from King Luther (Richie Taberner) in 15.98sec (normal) for the 277m trip.

The victory initiated a double for Hove trainer Richard Rees who landed heat six with Avarua Zlatan who also paced up well from the red-box to score by half a length from the keeping-on Headford Cian (Maxine Locke) in 16.29sec (normal).

Magical Luka (Kevin Hutton), who had been vying for ante-post favouritism with Shadow Storm, was long odds-on to win heat three but was beaten by the Mark Wallis-trained Crafty Alejandro who was soon pacing up inside on his way to scoring by a length and a quarter from Beaming Isla (Maxine Locke) in 16.20sec (normal).

Paul Donovan’s local Slaneyside Swade kicked off the event with a short-head victory in heat one, quickly away and soon heading his rivals, although Avarua Lake (Richard Rees) ran on strongly to close the gap to the minimum margin at the line in 16.10sec (normal).

The other heats were won by the David Mullins-trained Zenith Scorpion who bossed proceedings off the second bend before leading home Raha Jayjay (Martyn Wiley) by a length in 16.27sec (normal) and Craig Morris’s Nightingale Crew who came through a cracking duel with Pavilion Team (Mark Wallis) to win by length in a slick 16.06sec (normal).