Virtual Kennel: Veteran still doing Fine

General / The Hawk / 19 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

The Hawk makes two more additions to his virtual kennel...

Fine Idol went into the notebook after a very good performance in a recent A4 event at Hall Green when the February 2005 veteran finished a respectable fourth having been crowded at several times during the contest.

The Clover Hare whelp has a decent record in A4 contests at the Birmingham track winning no less than five races from 16 starts - so I was very surprised to see him drop down to A5 last week for his latest contest as he had only been recently downgraded from A3 to A4.

Although he has only raced once in 93 starts from trap two, I feel he has been running from the wrong boxes when drawn in the black or white jackets recently, and feel a draw from the blue jacket could see him deliver a winning performance especially in this grade.

He was drawn in the black jacket for his latest excursion and that proved disastrous as he was crowded and eventually fell. If he is okay from that tumble he should win at this level before long. He had never raced at anything lower than A4 class prior to his A5 race last week.

Fine Idol Hall Green A5

Millwards Lad is the sort of dog I like to follow around the tight turns and short straights of Romford. He usually finds himself a length or two off the pace (although he can trap smartly at times as well), and as he is drawn in trap one he needs luck in running to feature. But this sort of dog can on occasions be overpriced as you can discount many of his runs due to him not finding openings at the right time and then being subsequently crowded out of things.

Last time out this December 2004 dog finished 2nd in a fair time despite having been forced to check out wide and also get baulked at the first corner. He was only beaten 0.75 of a length and given a clear run would have taken that A3 event. He won an A3 event on 11th April when quickly away and running on strongly and then ran three A2's finishing 2nd twice before being dropped to A3 grade again. He has now run three A3's finishing 4th, 3rd and 2nd and being beaten less than 2 lengths on each run. Given a fair run to the first turn he will prove very difficult to beat next time, especially if drawn inside a 'kipper' in A3 grade.

Millwards Lad Romford A3