A great card from Yarmouth this evening sees the remarkable staying bitch Musical Gaga attempting to get her paws on the illustrious TV Trophy; indeed, it is hard to make a case for her not creating more publicity than when she wore a meat dress, which she famously ate before getting to the traps. The supporting card has a feel of the young pretenders trying to make a name for themselves accompanied by some Sky stalwarts and that should lead to an intriguing night’s action. I have recently earned enough doggie treats to purchase a new Surhound Sound TV which should give me some great viewing from the comfort of my ever-reliable sofa. As ever, I have found some value for the Lolly Faithful tonight and so we should all be dining in style come 9:30 this evening:

19:34 – Puppies

These little tykes are always hard to predict and none moreso than my young colleague Swift Keith who is worth taking on when he is short, despite his obvious pace and potential. His run at Monmore was nothing short of disastrous last time out and whilst any dog should always be forgiven one run, another missed break from trap 1 will have his backers in disarray here. It makes more sense to side with Droopys Posh who is showing admirable qualities as as fine young bitch and even though the 462m here is on the short side for this destined stayer, she was superb at Hove against her fairer sex and in houndsight, we should have backed her in the Ladies final on the South Coast. Moody Paul is apparently in no reference to his trainer Paul Young, but his human mentor cannot be happy with his draw out in 4 and he makes little appeal as an inexperienced pup from an unfamiliar berth. Posh to prove too classy here.

19:49 – Maiden

A rare maiden for the Sky cameras here and it is one to really not write home about. As I am at home, however, I will do a little and bark that Donnys Angel has good breeding with litter-sister Toosey Beannie plying her trade in decent stayers races. With that in mind, Angel’s early speed, track knowledge and potential to stay based on her sister suggests she will have too much for these. She also has a good draw so a 28:16 or near to her best should be enough to prevail.

20:04 – Marathon

It would be remiss of me not to mention a colleague who is joining me in the good-life on the sofa after an outstanding career: happy retirement Aero Gaga. The superb, gutsy and honest Gaga is not as controversial as his namesake but he has created many headlines over the years including taking on the Irish and beating them in their own dogyard; he can have one last dog-song here and win from the front. He has an excellent draw to work from with the tardy but game Storm Pockets on his inside and so he can assert and await the inevitable challenge from the rail-hugging Aayamzabella, who would jump over a dog to get to the rails it seems. Her performance was remarkable in the TV Trophy Semi-Finals to nearly get up and whilst she made Gaga look like he was standing still in that race, the old-timer is a different dog on the bunny. The former Mallogs Holly, Aaaaayamzabella (sorry I forget how many ‘A’s), will win with anything like a clear run but it is hard to envisage her getting one. Em Millie has the best draw of the night and ran her heart out last week so could be a touch of value at 16/1; Gaga will make that academic, however.

20:19 – Dogs

The fellas line up here and whilst bragging rights of this race will surely lead to some one-line barks towards Musical Gaga in the kennels after, it is a race that looks difficult to call from a value perspective. Young Golden gets the narrow vote as he has a decent draw and is undoubtedly from a pacey litter, but none of the litter seem to have developed the knack of winning based on their potential and whilst the Gymcrack winner will be able to flaunt that trophy for the rest of his life, he struggles to win races for me. Droopys Reason is in that mould as well as when I paws for thought, I always consider him an unlucky dog in races as opposed to a consistent sort. He can turn up on any day though and you ignore him in a race of this nature at your peril. Late Starter also has a good looking form-card for this race and will have his supporters, although his natural pace is a worry if Young Golden displays some of the ability that he did last week in chasing the forlorn hope of overtaking the Derby champion Sidaz Jack. Golden to just win his medal here.

20:34 – Sprint

Nothing like a classy sprint to get me sat up in an awkward position that I wished I’d never got myself into, and here we have a great contest. Lord Save Us is a powerful sort when he gets the boxes but he has been known to stand up in them which as far as I could make out when I was running, wasn’t ideal. Andlyns Asabat is poorly drawn between him and the interesting Wacka but if any of these get a cheap lead then they will claim the plaudits here I am sure. Asabat is perhaps the most reliable from the boxes but Wacka is looking for his 5th win in 6 races and any Lister dog round this circuit should be feared. With the potential for crowding between those similarly matched types, it is worth backing the track-record holder, Monleek Town, to rediscover his magic from as wide a box as I can remember him coming out of (bearing in mind my memory extends between my last meal and my last walk normally). Town has struggled this term but with his newly-acquired wide tag he has been given space to work from here and hopefully he can regain the form that saw him fancied against the likes of the now-retired superstars Lil Risky and Fernhill Jess; those two even gave me something to think about so those formlines for Town are more impressive than the three fancied runners in the race and his odds of 7/1 more than account for his poorer showings recently.

20:49 – Standard

The most fancied dog of the day lines up here and when all things are considered, it is worth joining in the party as we all stand-up on our sofas and bark this one to victory. Airtech Alfie looks a good thing here. He has all-round pace that should be too much for these and whilst Forest Trick may lead him, she doesn’t really rail so she can afford Alfie plenty of room. The reason for not getting too carried away with Alfie and throwing my whole bowl of food for this evening at him is that Tyrur Willyjoe is in ominous form at his home track and he is a hugely talented performer on his day. He may not have hit the heights of his potential when arriving from Ireland, but he has shown he can throw a collar in the works of a well-backed dog and so whilst Alfie is fancied, the Faithful do not want to see Willyjoe on the bunny.

21:04 – Stayers

A fantastic afternoon for us at Monmore for the Gold Cup card was enhanced by the fluent, impressive performance of Sidelight round her local track. Her legion of supporters cheered her all the way home there after a typical ping break and she will need that whole legion to turn up in East Anglia today to get her through the final 65m that she will struggle with. She also has to contend with the occassional pinging qualities of Bubbly Swallow and Droopys Xavier on her inside and neither of those two like to relinquish their position wherever they are situated in a race. Whilst those three battle for the inside, it is worth backing a Lister dog who flatters to deceive at times, but is a talented performer over a 6-bend trip nonetheless: Killieford Khali can swoop round the outside to take this. He is often frustrating in his endeavours but I’ve liked him since he was a pup and he can repay my faith in him here by entertaining us in front of the Sky cameras today: us dogs love the limelight!

21:19 – TV Trophy

Barking of limelight, it is hard to think of a dog in the spotlight more than Gaga and whilst she would argue she was born this way, it has taken a while for her to reach the heights that have led her to be the darling of the paparazzi. Her stunning 462m sectional last week was faster than Sidaz Jack’s time for the Standard course and if that wasn’t enough, she carried on to break the track-record in a scintillating time. If she leads tonight it is all over; it is hard to see her not leading. Blonde Reagan may give her something to think about early on but his prowess has diminished over the course of this year and he is sadly a shadow of his former majestic self. That leaves the one question that is almost not a question: can Farloe Tango catch her? The last time these two met, I actually recommended backing Tango to do exactly that and whilst he got no sort of run that night, Gaga was arguably lapping him before he got going. If Tango gets a clear run though, this could be a race to savour. Most probably a procession though, I must admit.

So here are the recommendations for the Lolly Faithful:

Killieford Khali – 1 dog bone @ 9/2

As ever, if you have any comments or questions regarding the dog blog, please don’t hesitate to tweet me and I promise to bark back with the sort of definition I will be receiving from my new Surhound Sound TV tonight. The common dogsensus is that Airtech Alfie is the bet of the night, and we the Lolly Faithful, will be over the moon if Alfie wins.