Greyhound Betting: Quiet night leads top line-up to Romford

General / Darrell Williams / 21 July 2008 / Leave a Comment

This evening's three Rose Bowl heats might ordinarily slip under the radar but the quality of greyhounds engaged makes this competition more than worthy of a few words (and wagers!).

By the nature of its configuration, Romford attracts course specialists, especially over this competition's six bend (575m) trip, with early paced front runners particularly likely to run up a winning sequence. That was no better demonstrated by Eye On the Force recently, with Mark Wallis' charge notching up an incredible nine timer over this discipline, before the run was dramatically brought to a halt when he was forced to check ten days ago. A Blue Ribald finalist at Hall Green, confirming he is no one trick pony, the Walthamstow raider should comfortably return to winning ways in tonight's third heat at 8.28.

While arguably best from the front, a lead is not a necessity, and while he may have to succumb to Show Your Metal early on, with stamina doubts about Ernie Gaskin's runner, the way should be clear for the selection to ultimately take command.

With only two qualifying from each heat for Friday's final, there is little room for error, which may explain why Droopys Nelson and Barnfield Slippy do not dominate in the outright market, with the evenly matched pair doing battle in the second heat at 7.58. Both should of course qualify, as they did when ultimately fighting out the finish of a similar competition just over a week ago, but deciding which one will earn the bragging rights tonight is not easy.

Dean Childs' Droopys Nelson scored a three length victory over his rival in that final, but had earlier been beaten six lengths by 'Slippy' in the heats. Despite his surprise elimination in last week's Sussex Cup heats, I'd still just favour 'Nelson' to come out on top as he looks likely to grab an early lead on the fence, which could be vital. That's to take nothing away from Sam Poots' dog drawn in six, the winner of two competitions at Crayford this season, although clearing neighbour Brickfield Dream may prove a little more difficult.

The other heat (7.26), and perhaps the competition itself, should fall to Directors Chair. While a berth nearer to the fence would be better, I still expect him to get a run, especially with Bubbly Midas also likely to be cutting in from trap three. Another Mark Wallis' handled runner, the selection has won all three of his starts over CD this year and on the clock is the quickest dog in the competition. For good measure, he was also runner-up in last year's Champion Stakes final over the same track and trip.