Jonathan Hobbs: ‘Bockos Jon Jo has the form to win Golden Sprint.’
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Greyhound journalist and Coral ambassador previews tonight’s Romford card
Wow. What a week at Cheltenham it’s been. Honeysuckle, Tiger Roll, Rachael Blackmore – and, of course, Heaven Help Us.
That’s right, greyhound racing is claiming a major Cheltenham success on the coattails of trainer Paul Hennessy who sent out the brilliant mare for an all-the-way win in Wednesday’s Coral Cup.
Paul is a multiple Greyhound Derby-winning trainer. He’s won Irish, Scottish and English Derbys – and Heaven Help Us’s owner John Turner also owned Paul’s first English Derby champion Jaytee Jet at Wimbledon in 2016.
So from the Coral Cup to the Coral Golden Sprint Final at Romford on Friday – and potentially another Cheltenham link given the owners of Fergal O’Brien’s Albert Bartlett hope Alaphilippe also own Romford finalist Geelo Gold Dust.
Carl Perry’s bitch was one of our ante-post ones-to-watch and has every chance in the final – if trapping as she can and escaping the pack.
However the percentage call could be another of our long-range fancies Bockos Jon Jo (20:54), who lines up in the final as the fastest qualifier.
Patrick Janssens’ dog ran amok in the semi-finals last week when clocking 23.63sec and that sort of form wins the £10,000 prize. He is also wearing the red jacket which has won the last four Golden Sprint finals!
The supporting card is top class with three other finals.
The Steve Simmons Sprint Final over 225m is a real blink-and-you’ll-miss-it contest with trapping prowess essential – and in-form Hove trainer Belinda Green’s Frainey Forever (20:17) has been smash-breaking for fun. Same again wins the decider.
The Stuart Roberts Quicksilver Final looks far more competitive than appeared before the heats given track record-holder Sparta Master (20:38) was beaten by Bubbly Bollinger. However a sharper start might see a form reversal for Sharon Thompson’s star.
The Tony Bylerley Mercury Final is another cracking contest where Paul Young holds a huge hand with three finalists – Three Ems, Bubbly Angel and Bubbly Cristal – but a narrow vote could go to Tony Gifkins’ Redzer Renae (21:12) to step up on her heat performance.
Good luck all.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.
