Blacknomilk tastes sweet victory in first round of Rose Bowl Stakes
The first round heats of the Tony Morris Memorial Rose Bowl Stakes over 380m were run on Tuesday at Crayford. Three semi-finals will be run on Friday which will determine the field for the final. The top three hounds from each heat earned spots in the semi-finals,
and each of the heats of the first round was worth £100.
Trainer, Patsy Cusack, ended the day with three heat winners: Griffins Gate in heat two, Key Fixer in heat four, and Blacknomilk in heat six. Blacknomilk looked the most impressive of the three, winning his heat by 7½ lengths with the fastest time of the
heats, a mark of 23.43 seconds.
Other heat winners included: Bigwood Sarah in heat one, Ardbeg Kate in heat three, and Wall Saw in heat five.
Of the six winners, three were race favourites. Kate, the Rose Bowl’s defending champion, was the 8-11 race favourite in her heat, and Saw was the 6-4 race favourite in his heat. Blacknomilk was a 3-1 co-favourite in the sixth heat.
Saw’s heat was the most exciting of the group. Saw and Me Buddy were neck-and-neck from the traps, but a bump from Oneco Classic took Buddy out of contention for first place. Classic was disqualified from the race, and despite a third place finish, he will
not advance to the semi-finals. Trap four of the first semi-final is vacant as a result.
Three favourites failed to qualify for the second round: 6-4 Ballymac Henry finished in fifth in heat two after missing the break from trap five; 2-1 favourite, Tyrur Kerril, missed his break in trap three of the fourth heat; and one of heat six’s co-favourites,
Ballynanty Lad finished in fifth place.
Two favourites qualified for the second round without winning their heats outright: Hovex Jaz took second in heat one, and the third co-favourite in heat six, Elios Isis, placed third.
Heat three had only five competitors as West Way Ranger was pulled from the race and not replaced.
Draw for Friday's semi-finals:
First: 1 Deanridge Zeus, 2 Me Buddy, 3 Strath Mal, 4 Vacant, 5 Key Fixer (m), 6 Journey Light (w).
Second: 1 Griffins Gate, 2 Wall Saw, 3 Cissies Orna, 4 Maireads Scolari (m), 5 Courtenay Ranger (m), 6 Margan Sugar Pie (m).
Third: 1 Ardbeg Kate, 2 Hovex Jaz, 3 Elios Isis (m), 4 Bigwood Sarah (m), 5 Talk It Over (w), 6 Blacknomilk (w).
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