Soppitt and Heilbron strike at Sunderland

JUST as they had in the heats, trainers Ted Soppitt and Tom Heilbron dominated Friday’s two feature finals at Sunderland with a win apiece.

Soppitt struck first with Sunnyside Jayden in the £500 Arc Sprint showdown as his dog followed up his heat victory to shade Heilbron’s Toddys Wolf by half a length in 15.59sec (normal going) for the 261m trip.

Heilbron quickly struck back, however, in the ensuing Arc Standard final as his recent All England Cup finalist Unanimous Leon dominated over the 450m course, making all to beat Soppitt’s Sunnyside Gurkha by almost four lengths in 26.96sec.

Soppitt enjoyed a double on the night as his Sunnyside Cairo took a 261m one-off in 15.86sec, while fellow Newcastle raider John Flaherty also enjoyed a successful evening in Wearside. 

His Northern Flat hero Naochra took a heat of the 450m Arc Standard in 26.96sec before in-form kennelmate Greenwell Gypsy enjoyed a bumper £828 payday by proving too strong for Peter Harnden’s Salacres Belleza in the 828m marathon, clocking 52.47sec when winning by six and a quarter lengths.

Savva Roberts had earlier won the first heat of the Standard with Crafty Kidd (27.47sec), which came after Ray Hale’s Simpson Sniper had kicked off a clean sweep of the opens for Newcastle runners when taking the Arc Maiden 450 in 27.42sec.

In Ireland, Newinn Spot, one of two heat winners for Graham Holland, was quickest in Friday’s first round of the Rural Kennels Unraced at Clonmel, clocking 28.47sec for the 525-yard course.

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