Greyhound Derby starts tonight

The 477th edition of the Wayward Lad blog.
Sometimes, I wonder just what attracts people to read my blog. The "comment" left on my blog yesterday is an example of the cryptic variety. If anyone can provide an interpretation (as I cannot fathom it) then I'd be interested to know where the contributor is coming from – or has he (or she) picked-up on something that I don't know about?
Heavy ground at all yesterday's turf meetings played havoc with the in-running markets, which was great for speculators. I honestly thought MOLESKIN had an odds-on chance when he was 1 of only 4 starters in the 2:30 at Perth, and so I took 7/4 before the off (he started the 5/4 fav). I should have taken my profit when he went under 1.50 in-running after sole Witness fell at the 12th, but I didn't. Not long after, the lack of a recent run combined with the heavy going told on his stamina and he was struggling from 4-out. Pretty much the same story with my other selection KNOCKANDO who  led to halfway, and then dropped-out quickly before pulling-up. Racing at Beverley was abandoned.
As such, with heavy going at all today's race meetings, I'm giving the horseracing a miss.

Tonight at Wimbledon dog track, the 1st round of the Greyhound Derby takes place (there are heats tonight and tomorrow). This really could be the final Greyhound Derby at Wimbledon as the track has gone seriously downhill in recent years from a complete lack of investment and forward planning by the owners. I'll not criticise the management of the track itself, as they are hard-working individuals who are trying to do their best with the little resources available. That said, the dogs lining up for the competition look a really decent bunch, and I've already made some notes of those I think will take a strong interest.

JAZZ APOLLO ( born Mar 2009) – Heat 2 – won Open Race (OR) over 515m at Hove on 29Mar in 29.57 (that's very, very quick).
BUBBLY PHEONIX (Apr10) – Heat 2 – ran solo trial in 28.33 on 18Apr, very young dog.
TAYLORS SKY (Mar09) – Heat 7 – won W'don OR in 28.55 on 07Apr and solo trial in 28.40 on 18Apr (Derby Fav @ 13/2).
JAYTEE PEDRO (Mar10) – Heat 7 – won W'don OR in 28.49 on 28Feb, young dog with improvement potential.
BOWTIME SYKES (Mar10) – Heat 13 – won 2-dog trial in 28.59 on 20Apr, wide runner, usually very slow away – finishes like a train.
RAZLDAZL JAYFKAY (Nov08) – Heat 11 – won W'don OR in 28.20 on 31Mar, seeded wide, breaks in under 4.80.
DROOPYS LORENZO (Feb10) – Heat 13 – won W'don OR in 28.33 on 07Apr, won 2 recent OR's at Hove in 29.70 & 29.68 (in latter beat Jazz Apollo by 1¼ lengths).
JAYTEE APACHE (Apr10) – Heat 15 – ran 28.51 in 2-dog trial on 18Apr, very young dog.
RIO TORINO (Apri10) – Heat 15 – won W'don OR in 28.63 on 18Apr, very young dog.
BOHER PADDY (Oct08) – Heat 20 – won W'don OR in 28.43 on 18Apr.

My selection is DROOPYS LORENZO who is 50/1 for the competition with Boylesports (40/1 elsewhere). If you only watch the races on Sky TV (cough, spit) then you'll enjoy it for sure; but - if you can – go to the track.

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