It’s the semi-finals of the Champion Stakes at Romford that highlight a superb Friday night card at the Essex track, with the two Mitch Millward Marathon heats over 750m looking competitive affairs.
Here are our dogs to watch on another cracking night of action under the lights at the East London track.
Tom to Run Riot Once More
Warzone Tom fully justified his position as ante-post favourite for the Champion Stakes with an impressive win in his heat last week for Liz McNair. Things will get harder from now on but he is still very much the one to be with at 19.56.
The scary thing for his rivals is that he missed the kick a bit, capable of trapping far better than he did. He still managed to clock 35.03 so is more than capable of going quicker which would make him almost untouchable.
Aoife to Make Up for Last Week
Things didn’t go right for Droopys Aoife last week, showing great determination to get herself back in with a winning chance as they turned for home. Early scrimmaging set her back in the contest which she will want to avoid now.
This race requires her to be on her toes as the traps open, with trap one (directly inside her) having some solid early gears, but she is different class when she times it right and can take victory for Gemma Evans at 19.36.
Rayner’s Star to Light Up the Night Time
It was a bold call from Stephen Rayner to bring St Leger runner-up Night Time Danny to Romford without a prior look at the track. That almost cost them a semi-final place last week but he battled well to take third.
He is capable of coming away better than he did seven nights back and with that look under his belt, he can get himself to the front off the final bend to land the 20.17.
Bullet to Fire on 750m Debut
It will be exciting to see Blueberry Bullet try her hand at eight bends for the first time at 20.38 for Mark Wallis. She was sent off favourite for the final of the St Leger at the end of September but lost her chance having found trouble early on.
The 710m on that stiff track suited her well so 750m on a tighter course should be right up her street. She clocked a very slick time here over 575m back in June, a repeat of which will have these strung out from an early stage.
Jet to Take Off From Plot Draw
Humble Jet dons the striped jacket at 19.18 for Roger York in a field where all will be heading towards the rails. He will want to move a little left himself on the run to the bend, as he is more of a three or four runner, but he will have all the room in the world to do so.
He has been in sparkling form at his home track of Harlow of late but also has four wins here to his credit this year, including dipping under 24 seconds. A rock-solid performer, he can reproduce that sort of time from this slot.
*All odds correct at time of writing.