Eye Onthe Storm wins the StanJames Blue Riband in record-breaking time
Eye Onthe Storm (8-13 favourite) paid dividends last night to punters as he smashed out of trap one to break his own track record and land the £7,000 final of the StanJames Blue Riband over 480m at Hall Green.
The Mark Wallis-trained dog was gifted the trap one box for the fifth successive time at the Birmingham track and as a result of the victory remains favourite to take this year’s Wimbledon Derby, and indeed his odds have been slashed from 14-1 to 7-1 by sponsors of the Derby, William Hill.
Storm unleashed great use of pace from the moment he pinged to take early command last night. After the first bend all that was left was literally a battle against time. It was a battle which he also won as he crossed the mark in 28.02secs, an improvement of 0.01secs from the previous record at Hall Green.
Ballymac Ace took second, rewarding trainer Chris Allsopp with the £1,000 runner-up prize. Freedom Emma took third, Jogadusc Ace was fourth, Frisby Fontenblue took fifth and Carden Bert was left to call it a night finishing last in a time of 28.72secs.
“It was a great run from him and augurs well for next month,” said winning owner John Keefe afterwards in the Racing Post. “He’s a proper competition dog and gets faster with each round.”
Storm is likely to trial at the new Plough lane circuit next week; his last appearance at the track was for the Racing Post Juvenile in which he failed to produce a win but clocked 28.34secs.
The Wimbledon Derby is scheduled to start on April 30th. In the mean time you can catch the Bettor.com Scottish Derby Final live on Sky Sports 4 on April 17th, which will be just as exciting.
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