1-9F Eske is beaten but the Warhawk wins well
Barrie Draper: His Farloe Warhawk was impressive at Wimbledon
PICTURE: STEVE NASHTHE William.hill.com Puppy Derby got under way at Wimbledon on Saturday night with four first round heats over the 480-metre course and fastest qualifier was Farloe Warhawk.
One of the biggest upsets in recent history happened in heat four of the event when Ballymac Eske (1-9F) was beaten by Bernie Doyle's Keeping An Edge.
A messy heat, for which the white-hot jolly found all sorts of trouble, resulted in a three-way photo with the winner clocking a pedestrian 29.01sec.
The opening heat had seen Tony Gifkins' Droopys English (11-4) who virtually made all to beat Bubbly Rossie by 1 1/2L in a time of 28.92sec.
Barrie Draper's Farloe Warhawk then justified his cramped odds of 10-11 to impressively make all and beat Whittle Murtagh by four lengths in a sizzling 28.35sec.
Heat three produced a shock result when Seamus Cahill's Mash Mad Snowy (7-1) turned over Mark Wallis's Cuil Condor, the 1-4 favourite, by 1 3/4L in 28.69sec.
Draw for Friday's semi-finals:
First: 1 Whittle Mutagh, 2 Ballymac Eske, 3 Keeping An Edge, 4 Cuil Condor, 5 Jaytees Swaby (m), 6 Bubbly Rossie (m). Second: 1 Droopys English, 2 Droopys Danneel, 3 Farloe Warhawk, 4 Makeit Rockalong, 5 Lenson Champ (w), 6 Mash Mad Snowy (w)
Saturday night also saw the quarter-finals of the John Smiths Peterborough Derby and fastest qualifier going forward to Wednesday's semi-finals is Lil Risky
First of four eliminators went to David Pruhs' Isheforreal (5-1) who made all to beat Pennys Pong by 2 3/4L in a time of 25.18sec.
Heather Dimmock's Waspinajar (5-2) broke well and dominated heat two to beat Fanore Mac by 2 3/4L in 25.13sec.
Jumeirah Dubai (3-1), trained by Julie Calvert, became the third all-the-way heat winner when beating Markeys Dragon by 3 1/2L in a less modest 25.31sec.
Lil Risky (11-10F) showed superior acceleration into the first bend and set sail for home off the second bend. Mark Wallis's dog went on to beat Millwards Mart by 2 1/4L in a fastest-0f-the-session 25.10sec.
