Saturday saw the opening heats of the Bettor.com Peterborough Derby take place and it was a night full of action.
Little Sensation could most definitely take a bow after he clocked the quickest time of the night. The Pat Rosney-trained charge, who is part owned by Sky Sports pundit Andy Gray, broke very quickly from trap four in the second heat to make all in a time of 25.26secs.
Rosney told the Racing Post that he has high hopes for his fast starting juvenile.“He ran the track awfully in his first trial, but better the second time,” he said. “He’s got brilliant early pace and, if he hadn’t hit the boxes and stumbled in the semis of the Puppy Derby at Monmore he might have taken a bit of catching in that.”
It proved to be a hugely successful night for Rosney as he saw three of his four runners qualify for Friday’s semi-finals. Little Hawk finished a length off heat three winner Redbrick Droopy and Rosney’s other runner Vatican Hamish just held off a late surge from Early Goal to come home in second place behind Rio Tornado in heat six.
Mark Wallis, who by-passed the Scottish Derby in favour of the Peterborough event, also had a fine evening with two of his dogs qualifying from their respective heats. Bim Bam Boozle was the standout performer, clocking a time of 25.53secs in heat four. The 7-1 shot pinged out of the traps and never looked in any danger throughout the contest. Wallis’ most fancied runner Kinda Close also qualified behind Little Sensation.
The most dramatic heat of the night was heat five, where extreme crowding on the final bend saw five of the runners forced to check which left Total Reality daylight to nip round the outside and go onto score by seven lengths. You could throw a sheet over the remaining five runners, who all came home within a length of each other. But after much deliberation over the photograph finish, Bodell James was adjudged to steal the second qualifying spot by a short-head.
Draw for Friday’s Semi-Finals
Semi Final One
T1 – Total Reality, T2 – Little Sensation, T3 – Droopys Pique, T4 – Redbrick Droopy, T5 – Forest May, T6 – Droopys Ascot.
Semi Final Two
T1 – Bim Bam Boozle, T2 – Final Zaar, T3 – Bowtime Lefty, T4 – Vatican Hamish, T5 –Peggys Way, T6 – Bodell James.
Semi Final Three
T1 – Kinda Close, T2 – Rockburst Canyon, T3 – Little Hawk, T4 – Alfies Option, T5 – Rio Tornado, T6 – Early Goal.
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