Mill Pinpoint on the money for Kelly Macari in the Steel City Cup final
Young trainer Kelly Macari celebrated her first ever category one victory as Mill Pinpoint (5-4) made all to win the Steel City Cup final at Sheffield. The 25 year-old trainer is far from a household name in the greyhound world but her career looks to be on the up as her veteran hound showed incredible guts to hold off late surges from Elwick Chris and Was Not Me to win by a short head.
Charlie Lister’s Was Not Me was the quickest away from the traps but was bumped approaching the first bend by the eventual victor which regulated the b***h from first to last. The first bend trouble saw Macari’s hound go head-to-head with Lister’s other runner Farloe Lee down the back straight, but her star had too much middle pace for Lee, who tailed off badly towards the final straight.
Elwick Chris, who was joined by an incredible late rally from Was Not Me, was the next to attack the favourite turning for home but the two could not find a way past a determined Pinpoint who gamely held on to the delight of his talented trainer.
Earlier in the evening, Ten Dollars More (11-2) made a classy field look very ordinary in the Betfair Casino Super Stayers. On his first ever start at Sheffield Chris Allsopp’s charge broke incredibly well from the gates, grabbed an early lead and saw off a threatening blow by favourite Droopys Eugene to land the spoils. The victory for the Allsopp’s kennels lifted them to third in the Trainers Championship, and a continuation of this good form could see him challenge Seamus Cahill for the title.
The first of the night’s bankers went in as Boher Paddy (4-5) remained unbeaten in his short career so far by winning the Betfair Official iphone App Mobile Puppy Standard. Favourite backers saw the impressive Lister runner knock six spots off the track record as he took Thurlsbeg Joker’s record with a time of 28.44. The Derby markets for next year reacted to the performance by shortening the lightly raced sort to 33-1 for the title.
Blue Artisan completed a nightmare week for his connections as the 1-3 favourite flopped in the Betfair World's Biggest Betting Community British Bred as Lister got his second winner of the night with Mill Jaguar (5-1). Trainer of Blue Artisan, Harry Williams, was caught in a severe traffic jam last week ahead of the Betfred Select Stakes which meant the dog missed the race, and things went from bad to worse here as the dog ran well below his form and came out of the race lame, with an injured hock joint. The eventual winner of the race was always in contention, pitching just behind early leader Saint Jack, and then moving between him and Artisan at the final bend, which caused a major interference to Blue Artisan, before unleashing a surging late run to go onto score by four lengths.
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