Cahill takes first and second at chaotic Kent Derby final
Sunday night saw the £7,500 John Smiths Kent Derby Final over 480m at Sittingbourne Sunday night. Trainer, Seamus Cahill, saw his hounds, Sparklee Bernie and Guinness Time, take first and second. His third entrant, Lethal Freds, fell early and finished in fifth. With three out of six hounds in the final Cahill was hoping for the top three spots, but has to be happy with the results.
Cahill’s Freds went down on the first bend along with Westmead Osprey, and Bernie took advantage of the fall by taking the lead after Lenson Bolt, and race favourite, Sleeping Urban, were slowed by the fall.
Guinness was a 12-1 longshot, but was quick out of the traps and managed to get ahead of the first bend trouble. With the majority of the group left behind it was Bernie and Guinness battling for top spot, but it was not close at the finish line as Bernie finished 2 1/3 lengths ahead of Gunniess Time.
Sleeping Urban recovered well enough to take third place, but was 5 ½ lengths behind Guinness. Urban was quick out of trap one, but a shade behind Guinness which ended up costing him a chance at second.
Also at Sittingbourne was the Cab-It Silver Salver Final over 450m. Mustang Ossie withdrew from the race leaving only five full traps, and Farley Ninja took himself out of the race early by stumbling out of trap two. Skelligs Vieri had a great start, but after the second bend the hounds began to shift around, making the winner unpredictable. Vieri dropped from first all the way to fourth as Greenacre Josh and Jogadusc Ace battled for the lead. With Josh out in front Ace fell behind as Zaheer stormed into second place, but Zaheer wasn’t able to overtake Josh, and finished in second place by 1 ¼ lengths, and only ¾ lengths ahead of Ace.
Adding to Seamus Cahill’s winning day was Jimmy Lollie in the Central Wholesale Produce LTD Sprint over 265 metres. Lollie was the 1-3 race favourite, and after a slow start from the traps, worked hard to regain the lead near the finish line to beat Conna Eagle by a neck. Directors Wit lost ground on the first bend, couldn’t recover, and finished in third place. Longshots, Sahara Mate, Riviera Rocco, and Jumeirah Breeze were nowhere near the leaders by the end of this race.
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