Droopys Hope battles to Betfred Gymcrack win

DROOPYS HOPE (5-1), the original ante-post market leader, pounced late to deny favourite Blazing Ruso and land the £6,000 Betfred Gymcrack final over 462m at Kinsley on Tuesday.

Blazing Ruso broke well enough and edged right from the traps but was still able to lead up only to be challenged on his inside by Rathanny Ruso at the bend. The pair had a good buckle along the back stretch before Blazing Ruso reasserted at the third turn, but Droopys Hope had been edging closer in behind all the time.

Swinging wide into the home straight, the George Oswald-trained bitch powered through late to master Blazing Ruso close home to score by one and a half lengths in 27.21sec with Rathanny Ruso back in third.

“I said the draw wouldn’t be a problem,” said Oswald’s assistant John McGee junior afterwards, “she's run her heart out. She could be very good, we’ll have a discussion where we go now.”

As at the corresponding meeting last year, it was track records just about all the way with all four distances seeing existing marks equalled or bettered.

Paul Young was responsible for two matched records with his Swabys Tony landing the Betfred ‘The Bonus King Bingo’ Trophy final over 268m in 15.97sec, while kennelmate Jaytee Youngy equalled his own 462m mark in landing the opening puppy contest in 27.10sec.

Debbie Calvert’s veteran Nifty Crash lowered his own 650m clock to 40.02sec, but that was soon eclipsed as Michael Walsh’s Nyla Fantasy won the Betfred.com Stayers Trophy final in a time 30 spots quicker.

However, that was not the biggest amount taken off a track record as Tony Gifkins’s Bubbly Capel lopped 37 spots off the 844m clock previously held by Midway Skipper in posting 51.54sec in the marathon.

Poole had the heats of the Dave Lawrance Golden Sprint over 450m with Bill Black’s Coolykereen Hi fastest in 26.65sec. Other winners were Proud Patsy (26.73sec), Ballyridge Finn (26.90sec) and Pams Tomjo (26.98sec).

Semis draw (courtesy of Kaan Hughes): 1st semi 1 Proud Patsy, 2 Out in Chill,  3 Kilmalady Biffo (m) , 4 Trevi You Go (w), 5 Droopys College (w)  6 Riverside Jess (w).

2nd semi 1 Boris Johner, 2 Millridge Major, 3 Ballyridge Finn (m), 4 Pams Tomjo (m), 5 Coolykereen Hi (m), 6 Hugo You Go (m)

There was also a track record at Mildenhall where Darren Whitton’s Warning Sign clocked 22.76sec to lower the 375m mark of 22.88sec held since 1996 by Flashy Beo.