Preview: Northern Puppy Cup semi-finals
The Williamhill.com Northern Puppy Derby semi-finals will be raced at Newcastle on Saturday. The top two hounds from each of the three semi-finals will advance to £8000 final on 10 November.
Williamhill.com Northern Puppy Derby Semi-final 1
Skywalker Magpie will race from the first trap. In last week’s heat Magpie took second place as a 12-1 longshot, but she was lucky to earn that position after four hounds crowded each other on the third
bend.
In trap two is Westmead Maldini. He took second in his heat after a slow start. His performance in the semi-finals should be better.
Pond Shefelia won her race last week by six lengths after taking the lead on the third bend, that’s some impressive late speed that should do her well again in this week’s race. She’ll race from trap three.
In trap four is Borna Coin, another heat winner. She managed to stay ahead of a rowdy pack after getting off to a very good start.
Droopys Milito was a 1-4 favourite in last week’s heat, and it turned out to be well-deserved as he won by 5½ lengths over Isit. He’ll go from trap five.
In the sixth trap is Rayvin Neasa, who drew a difficult heat in the first round, and has again here in the semi-finals. He finished third last week behind Borna and Westmead Maldini. He’ll have an even
tougher field going against him in this race.
Williamhill.com Northern Puppy Derby Semi-final 2
In trap one is Pond Alesha. Last week Pond battled Skywalker Satin before taking the lead at the three-quarter mark of the race. She finished in first, 1½ lengths ahead of Satin.
Droopys Wilson will race from the second trap after taking second last week. Wilson led from the traps to the third bend, but trailed off significantly after that as Pond Shefelia won the race by 6 lengths.
In trap three is Isit, who raced against only three other hounds last week, and finished well back of first place in second. She’ll have to be better than that to advance to the final next week.
Snowflake was another hound that raced against only three other hounds. She was a 12-1 longshot, and only beat Aviva Lynx, who was 33-1. She’ll be lucky to avoid last place in this race. She’ll go from
trap four.
In trap five is Droopy Musician, who won his heat by 9½ lengths last week, and should have little trouble earning a spot in the final.
Lil Ranger will race from trap six. Last week Ranger was a 40-1 longshot who took third place ahead of two hounds that had significant trouble coming out of the traps.
Best bet: Droopy Musician might not pay out very much, but that’s because he’s racing against a weak group of hounds.
Williamhill.com Northern Puppy Derby Semi-final 3
In trap one is Skywalker Satin. She lost the lead late last week to another good racer, Pond Alesha.
Trap two will house Rip Rascal, who squeaked into the semi-finals with a third place finish last week. She won’t be able to do that in this race.
Elwick Bolero took second place last week against a very weak field, except for the hound he lost to, Droopys Luisao. The two will meet again in this race with Bolero going from trap three and Luisao in
trap four.
Luisao wasn’t the favourite last week, and probably won’t be again this week, but he’s proven he can win.
In trap five is Bandicoot Domino. He finished in third, 2¾ lengths behind Pond last week, and could improve upon that going against a generally weak field in this race.
In the sixth trap is Land Hawk finished in third place last week, and is another hound that could benefit from this semi-final’s weak group.
Tags: