Blue Bee back to best as Jacket favourites tumble

Blue Bee: Game winner of the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket third semi-final

  PICTURE: STEVE NASH  

SEMI-FINALS of the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket were staged at
Crayford on Saturday morning and topping the bill going forward to next Saturday's £15,000 final is Blue Bee.
1st semi-final:
Mountjoy Orion blazed the trail for seven bends but was always being stalked by stronger rivals Springwood Bob and Frank Gray's Wise Signal. The latter, who drifted to 9-4 having been odds-on in places in the morning, surged clear on the final two bends to beat Bob by 5 3/4L in 46.53sec.
2nd semi-final:
FarleyZach got first run on Lottes Girl (5-1) and set a fast and furious pace. However, he could never shake last year's finalist and Heather Dimmock's bitch dug deepest to get up on the line (46.16sec)  to take the verdict by a neck with Bubbly Swallow running a blinder a further neck  away in third.
3rd semi-final:
Hot favourite Express Trend didn't trap well and was always struggling after first bend crowding. Despite a trap-six draw, MattDartnall's Blue Bee got a good run on the rails and came from last to first to beat Blackrose Monarch by 1/2L in46.13sec.

Draw for Saturday's final: 1 Blackrose Monarch 2 Blue Bee  3 Lottes Girl 4 Farley Zach 5 Springwood Bob 6 Wise Signal.

The high class card also included three heats of the £2,000 Peter Bussey Memorial Trophy over 540 metres and fastest qualifier here was Ministry Millie.

Heat 1: Aero Joker (5-4F) and the well-supported Roses Rockin had a great buckle on the first circuit. However, Mark Wallis's Joker got on top streaking tothe fifth bend and kept on well to beat the staying on Brave The Times by three lengths in 34.40sec.

Heat 2: Tony Collett's 14-1 outsider Boca Grande showed the best early toe to take a vital early advantage. Bubbly Ebony clearly had the pace to beat the leader but lacked the trackcraft to go by - failing, in the end, by 1/2L to catch the 34.26sec winner.

Heat 3: Kelly Findlay's Ministry Millie (3-1) got a ping break and was able to dictate matters from the front. She saw off Kilacola Eagle by the fifth bend and then had to hold the late surge from Hats My Lady and scoring by 1 1/4L in 34.08sec.

Draw for Saturday's final: 1 Ministry Millie 2 Brave The Times 3 Hats My Lady 4 Boca Grande 5 Bubbly Ebony 6 Aero Joker.