Draper's Eske breaks Monmore track record

Barrie Draper: Trains new Monmore track record holder Ballymac Eske

  PICTURE: STEVE NASH  

THE RGT charity meeting at Monmore on Thursday night (live on RPGTV) included heats of two very interesting open competitions and the good news is that the two mouth-watering finals will be seen live on the channel again next week.

The first open event was a 480m Puppy competition for which Barrie Draper's Ballymac Eske was a white-hot favourite to take the opening heat at 8.26.
And it was all over bar the shouting from the boxes when the 1-5 jolly broke best and got first run on second favourite Ballymac Tobias. The Sheffield raider then went through the gears to steadily draw clear to score by 7 1/4L in a sensational new track record of 27.48sec.
There was drama in heat two when, due to an accident at the first bend, the hare was stopped in the interest of safety (final bend) - Julie Bateson's Fridays Daryl (T6), a well-supported favourite, was in a clear lead at the time.
Connections of the runners couldn't agree on a re-run so they drew lots for a place in the final and Fridays Daryl, Bower William and Tae Milis were the three put forward.

The Dual Distance competition grabbed the attention for several reasons notably the fact that the heats were run over six bends (630m) and the finalists will be dropping down to four bends (480m) for the £400 decider in seven days time.
The first heat saw Corren Price's Mays Gold (6-4F) manage to circle the field around the first two bends and kick on from the third bend.
Saxon Warrior and Johns Classic both stayed on well but never threatened the 1 3/4L winner who clocked 38.16sec.
A ping break from the red box saw Sandra Ralph's Liscahane Razl (9-4F) assume command in heat two and she was never troubled to score by over three lengths in 37.87sec.

Draw for Thursday's finals:
Pups: 1 Ballymac Eske, 2 Bower William, 3 Ballymac Tobias (m), 4 Bower Show (m), 5 Tae Milis (m), 6 Fridays Daryl (w).
Dual Distance: 1 Johns Classic, 2 Liscahane Razl, 3 Maxines Fancy, 4 Mays Gold (m), 5 Saxon Warrior (m), 6 Erics Lass (m).