Craig Dawson flies the flag in the Scottish Derby Final
The hopes of a whole nation rest on the shoulders of Craig Dawson, the Scottish trainer has two runners in Saturday’s Scottish Derby final.
According to the form book only one of his two runners, Andrea Monarch, has a serious chance of winning the £25,000 first prize. But the locals will be out in force looking to back one of his home-grown talents, and if it’s an outsider their looking for, they will need to look no further than Ballymac Rebound.
Ballymac Rebound’s progress through the competition has been pretty impressive considering the trouble he has encountered in running. In his second round and semi-final races he came through extreme crowding to still qualify, leaving both market leaders Tyrur Speedy and Newlawn Class trailing in his wake.
The times of those two runs on paper would mean he stands a limited chance of success on Saturday, but if given a clear run Ballymac Rebound showed in the opening heat (29.41secs) that he may have the ability to cause an upset.
Dawson’s main hope to secure his first Scottish Derby lies in the form of Ardera Monarch, who started the competition as a 50-1 outsider but has surprised many people with his three wins from three races. Can he make it a clean sweep of victories? The form suggests that he has massive chance. Ardera has improved with every race, resulting in a scintillating performance (28.99secs) in the semi-finals, where he beat Greenwell Viper and Westmead Scolari by three lengths. He is unbeaten at Shawfield throughout his career, but has failed to get his head in front at any other track, which has to cause doubts amongst his followers.
He may also not get things his own way from the traps this time around with the fast-starting Nambisco drawn outside him in trap three. If, and it’s a big if, he can live with the early pace of the favourite then it could be a close call between the two turning for home.
If one of the Dawson’s charges can cross the line in front, you would expect one or two glasses of Glenfiddich to be disposed of in the stands on Saturday.
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