Playboy Arteta plays the spoiler in A5 race at Hall Green
Murphy’s Law states that “anything that can go wrong will.” This law is just as applicable in the world of greyhound racing as it is in everyday life. There are often times when a heavily
favoured dog runs a great race, only to be overtaken by another racer who literally steals the win away from them.
That is exactly what happened in today’s first race at Hall Green Greyhound Stadium in Birmingham. Ballynanty Hill was billed as the 6-4 favourite to win the A5 race, but 8-1 long shot
Playboy Arteta swept in and ran away with the win. Coming out of trap one, Playboy Arteta moved quickly away from the pack and always led to earn the victory in 29.04 seconds.
Everyone watched as Watch The Freeby (4-1) ran to a second-place finish in 29.22. He went wide early on, but ran on to finish 2¼ lengths behind the winner. Pre-race favourite Ballynanty
Hill closed out the top three by finishing in third place with a time of 29.42 seconds. He was 2½ lengths out of second place.
Finishing fourth was Meadowvale Ash (7-2), who was forced to check the run up, and finished the race 1¼ lengths behind the third-place finisher in 29.52. Boglane Sunset’s (6-1) clear run
led him to a fifth-place finish in 29.66, with 1¾ lengths separating him from fourth place. The sixth and final position was claimed by Best Code (7-2), who also had a clear run. He completed the race in 29.80, which was 1¾ lengths behind Boglane Sunset.
The A5 race that followed saw a similar result, with the favourite’s chances at winning being spoiled by another racer. Clonlusk Oscar (3-1) played the role of both winner and spoiler
in this race. He held an early pace from trap five, and soon led to take first place in 29.21. Kayjayen (4-1) finished 1¼ lengths behind Clonlusk Oscar to finish second with a time of 29.31.
A distance of 5 lengths separated second place from third, with Katies Friend (7-2) placing third in 29.71. Only a ½ length behind Katies Friend was Goinglight Pott (4-1), who crowded
at the quarter to finish the race in the fourth position.
Barnfield Max, the 11-4 favourite, took fifth place in 29.87, which was 1½ lengths behind fourth. He crowded the run up, and was forced to check, which cost him the win. Last place went
to Ballymac Delia (6-1), who finished in 30.01, 1¾ lengths behind the favourite.
Will the spoilers continue their dominance at Hall Green Greyhound Stadium, or will the favourites rebound to emerge victorious? Find out when the races resume Tuesday evening. The first
race is scheduled to begin at 19:30.
Tags: