QUEEN JESSIEJ has her sights set on a second major Swindon prize after posting the fastest time of the day as the second round of the Property192 Oaks took centre-stage at the Blunsdon venue on Monday.

Six heats of the bitches’ Classic, backed by leading owner Colin Davey, saw a host of top-class performances – not least from the Produce Stakes champion as she completed a second-round double for Liz McNair in heat five.

Well away, the May 2018 daughter of Leamaneigh Turbo and Skate On raced to a fastest-of-the-round sectional (3.96sec) on her way to one-and-a-quarter length success over fellow British-bred Lights Out, another Produce Stakes finalist, in 27.89sec (normal).

The McNair double had been initiated by Queen Franklin, an Oaks finalist last year, who paced up well outside in heat two and ran away from her field to win by over five lengths from Dolla Rosie (Barrie Draper) in 28.29sec.

Newinn Liz, a runaway winner in the first round, followed up that effort with another authoritative effort in heat three as Ernie Gaskin’s bitch raced to a 3.98sec split on her way to winning by almost six lengths from Pantone Whisper (David Mullins) in 28.10sec.

Winning trainer Gaskin said: “She’s certainly running well and has probably benefited from seeing Swindon twice – one trial and one race – before the Oaks started. She’s running the track better each time and we’re happy where we are.

“She’s again got trap six in the semis but you take nothing for granted. She’s got to produce, but I’m happy enough with how the dogs are running at the moment.

“Droopys Addition ran a good race to finish second in the Essex Vase, Droopys Aoife trialled well at Hove and is heading back there for the Brighton Belle and Newinn Jacko showed plenty in the Sussex Cup heats, although is not coming away that well just now.

“I’ve got a small team of dogs and certainly these competitions are great, although I think for the younger dogs coming through there’s a need to make sure tracks put on one-off opens – puppy races, maidens, winner of ones etc. It’s important for their education.”

The other Property192 Oaks heats were won by Robert Smith’s runaway winner Dapper Jess (28.45sec), Tom Heilbron’s Jumeirah Liberty (28.34sec) and the John Mullins-trained Fantastical (28.19sec). The last-named pair both made all in their qualifiers.

Swindon’s social media manager and photographer Josh Sealey said, as with the postponed first round and rescheduling of the event, the elements once again proved an issue for groundstaff, trainers and kennelhands alike.

He explained: “When we got into work just before 7am and couldn’t see the track we thought our luck was out once again and that it would be a repeat of the first round with postponing – due to the fog!

“However, despite a short delay to the first race in waiting for conditions to improve and then playing catch-up, we managed to get back on track and enjoy some brilliant racing.

“It’s clear this year’s Oaks has a huge amount of quality bitches involved and places in the semi-finals were not easily won when you think we saw the likes of Swanley Chick and Aayamza Lexie both knocked out.

“Newinn Liz impressed once again, but this time Queen JessieJ showed her previous Produce Stakes-winning form with a tremendous run – only a few spots off the clock.

“With the semi-finals looking as good as what they are, we should be in for some great racing once again – and, hopefully, by the time we get to Sunday’s semi-finals live on RPGTV the fog will have disappeared for good!”

Trap draw for Sunday’s semi-finals: www.bagsracing.com/assets/13-december—swindon-adv.pdf