RGT Standard and Sprint finals set for Saturday at Nottingham
Nottingham hosted heats in preparation for two finals that will be run this Saturday. The first heats established the final for the J.C. Steeles Supporting the RGT Standard Trophy over 500m, and the other set of heats set the final for the Betfred.com Supporting the RGT Sprint Trophy over 305m.
RGT Standard Trophy
The first heat of the RGT Standard Trophy was won by Windy Millar by 5 ½ lengths over Ballymac Well. Millar got off to a great start, and led early in the race with little pressure coming from the rest of the field. The 7-4 race favourite, Farloe Titan, ran well after losing ground on the first bend, but wasn’t able to move into second ahead of Well, finishing a ½ length back in third. Loyal Rebel in fourth, Jordan Light in fifth, and longshot Romeo In Line (33-1) in last all failed to reach this weekend’s final.
Little Gaffer, the 6-4 race favourite, took the lead on the first bend of the second heat, but couldn’t hold it as Runemragged took over on the third bend, winning the race by 3 ¼ lengths over Gaffer. Coming in third was Hallucination. Salacres Optimum finished in fourth place, just ¾ lengths back of Hallucination, and will miss the final. Also eliminated were Mustang Mirage in fifth and Rock It Elite in sixth.
The RGT Standard final should be a close race with the top six hounds of the heats all qualifying.
RGT Sprint Trophy
Toems Rocket won the first heat of the RGT Sprint Trophy by 1 ½ lengths over Fatboyz Razldazl. Rocket was a 2-1 joint favourite, and fared much better than the other joint favourite, Salacres Meako, who couldn’t recover from a slow start, and failed to reach the final with a fourth place finish. Tynwald Claudius took third by ¾ lengths over Meako to earn his spot in the final. Also failing to qualify were Live A Dream in fifth, and Youthful Maguire in sixth.
The second heat was won by 4-5 race favourite, Pineapple Tommy, who took the lead on the first bend and didn’t look back, winning the race by 3 ¾ lengths over Springwell Ben. Also advancing to the final was 14-1 longshot, Colleen Dawn, who just edged out Springwell Hot by a head to take third place. Witton Hughesie finished in fifth, and Gifted Jack finished last.
Pineapple Tommy should do well in the final after recording a time of 18.21, the fastest time of the heats.
The draws are:
RGT Standard Trophy Final: 1 Ballymac Well, 2 Runemragged, 3 Little Gaffer, 4 Farloe Titan, 5 Hallucination, 6 Windy Millar
RGT Sprint Trophy Final: 1 Tynwald Claudius, 2 Pineapple Tommy, 3 Springwell Ben, 4 Colleen Dawn, 5 Fatboyz Razldazl, 6 Toems Rocket
Tags: