Greenwell Viper fastest in Grand Prix heats
Greenwell Viper produced the perfect start to his Grand Prix campaign at Sunderland last night after clocking a time of 39.39sec in heat six on Friday evening. The Pat Flaherty trained charge posesses a lot of ability and was unlucky to miss out in the Bettor.com Scottish Derby final, could the Grand Prix be his first Cup win for 2010?
The williamhill.com Festival took off last night and delivered an entertaining night as promised. Viper (3-1), despite having a slow start and taking a few bumps, still managed to recover well and set the standard of the competition by beating He Went Whoosh (4-6 favourite) by two and a half lengths.
Nifty Crash (6-1) continued his winning streak in heat five by a short head. Crash pinged the lids impressively from trap one and took charge from the second bend to clock 39.71sec.
Tony Gifkins Capel Smiley (3-1) took the fourth heat after defeating Droopys Zach (5-2 Joint Favourite) by half a length.
Champion trainer Mark Wallis’ Zach produced the perfect start and led three quarters of the race until Smiley blitzed past.
Chriss Allsopp’s Fatboyz Diva (5-4 favourite) was the only favourite to come through in the Grand Prix heats. Diva secured a semi final spot after beating Charlie Lister’s Australian import Jean Jeannie (6-1) by four and three quarters of a length, clocking 39.71sec.
Jeannie performed well considering it’s her second race on British turf, I believe this Lister purchase will continue to develop and may just produce a shocker in the coming stages.
England Expects took heat two in 39.89sec, whilst the opener was taken by Anfi Gem in a time of 39.49sec.
Kinda Easy still remains the Ante-post market leader even after finishing third in heat five. The Mark Wallis trained hound has recently showed good form but it’s to close to say right now who will win, as the competition still has 18 remaining hopefuls but if Viper can keep up the pace, he may just claim the £15,000 prize.
Draw for Friday's williamhill.com Grand Prix semis:
First: 1 Fatboyz Diva, 2 Hesley Dingo, 3 Jean Jeannie, 4 Cally Time, 5 Frisby Forfun, 6 Ten Dollars More (m).
Second: 1 Droopys Zach, 2 Farloe Rocket, 3 He Went Whoosh (w), 4 Capel Smiley (w), 5 Kinda Easy (w), 6 Greenwell Viper (w).
Third: 1 Anfi Gem, 2 Bourne Masons, 3 England Expects, 4 Nifty Crash, 5 Swift Planet, 6 Raving Black.
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