Romford’s live meeting on Sky last night saw the Jimmy Wright trained Droopys Hester take the £10,000 Coral Champion Stakes Final. Although involved in a bit of bumping at the first bend, the 11/8 favourite managed to hold off the fast finishing Westmead Maldini by a short head. The 5/2 second favourite started slowly but finished like a train and trainer Nick Saava can only be proud of the way his dog ran. Jimmy Wright’s other runner Droopys Luisano filled third place at odds of 9/2. It was a perfect result as far as the betting was concerned with the six dogs finishing in price order. Droopys Hester won in a time of 35.59, slower than his semi final win which was timed at 35.25.
Five other finals took place on the televised card and each were worth £1,000 to the winner. The 8.15 Coral Champions Night Puppy Standard Final was won by the 6/4 favourite Fire Food Chilli in a time of 23.71. Jim Daly calls his pup Shrek but maybe he will get a nicer nickname after this victory!
The Maiden Stayers event was off at 8.35 and Nick Saava had a nice warm up to the Champions Stakes by taking this race with his runner Droopys Greg. The 5/4 fav won in a a time of 35.58. Next on the card was the hurdle race at 8.50. Yet another favourite was successful on a tough night for the bookmakers. Dean Child’s Baltylum Houdini held off a late challenge from Romeo In Miami to win at odds of 7/4 in a time of 24.36.
The Champions Night Standard Final was won by, you guessed it, yet another favourite! Lil Risky returned a 7/4 chance beating track record holder Ardbeg Mentor into fifth on that dogs final career start. Lil Risky clocked a time of 23.86 over the 400m trip. Finally, the Marathon over 750m was won by Kelly Findlay’s Razldazl Pru. The very strong 1/2 favourite led all the way to win by six lengths in a time of 46.78.