So here we are at the start of a New Year! After successful years in 2012 and 2013, I am eagerly anticipating the year ahead and hopefully the Lolly Faithful are too! We begin 2014 with a brilliant card from Romford for the time of year with some very competitive racing. It is nice to see my colleagues on Sky so early in the year after the ridiculous fiasco last year when the racing was to be replaced with basketball; I’m sure us dogs could jump high enough but asking us to clutch the ball with our paws was ridiculous! Anyway, sanity prevailed by March and we were back to racing and thankfully we have a stellar set of Sky dates this year. The first of which sees the final of the Coronation Cup where Champion Trainer Mark Wallis has 4 of the runners. It is evidence of just how well he got my colleagues running at the end of 2013 to produce a late surge to pip the Derby and St. Leger winning legend that is Charlie Lister. It is hard to pick between his four protagonists in the final but before we get there, let’s find some value for the Lolly Faithful in the other races:

19:34 – Standard

Romford really is a specialist’s track with it’s tight bends and emphasis on leading being more pronounced than many other tracks; here we have a track specialist who is 6 from 9 over the Course and Distance from his favoured red box and Shaneboy Ozzy is fancied to start the night off in style for us! He has a decent draw to work from as Bush Standard and Landed at Last are not natural rail huggers and he can turn handily to assert down the back. Guinness Sky is a temperamental sort who is hard to catch right but when he does, he is reminiscent of his superb injury-hit father Rayvin Giovanni. Borna Monty seems to have lost his appetite for the game as he was a brilliant front-runner round here at his peak, but the formlines of him losing to Ozzy the last 4 times he has met him (excluding last week’s run) are there for all to see.

19:49 – Hurdles

I was barking about us jumping earlier and here my colleagues have a go at racing over the sticks. There are a lot of finishers in the race who are arguably not suited to Romford such as Assasin Eight, Green Amigo and Mash Mad Snowy and so the value is with track-specialist Rummy Lord to pinch an early lead and cling on for dog’s life at the end. He is 8 from 10 around here and whilst that is normally against lesser sorts, I can’t find value in backing Amigo who has not seen the track (let alone the hurdles) and Snowy who definitely runs the track well but needs further. Cornamaddy Jumbo is the barking dog of this race with Wallis being very confident that he will “win the Springbok” for Novice hurdlers this year; he was once fancied at Shelbourne to give an on-fire Farloe Warhawk a race so there is no doubt that Jumbo has the potential to be very useful, it’s whether he can jump is the issue as hitting anything hurts at our speed, trust me!

20:04 – Stayers

Some of us dogs want to lead (like me) from the front and here we have the perfect example of a dog who is a different specimen on the bunny: Steves Dream. If he can clear Drumna Hawk (who has the ability to ping like me now and again) he will take the world of catching in this race. Britania Rachel is a decent bitch in the right race but struggles in this sort of company for me and Aines Marx is a bitch without a distance. Steves got a Dream draw here and he can make-all.

20:19 – Standard

Romford’s Golden Sprint comes later in the year and this race would be a very good final of that Category One tournament. It’s a cracking field! If anyone would like to confidently suggest who will lead then be my guest in my kennel, but I for one, am struggling. The fact that the once arguably unbeatable Romford-specialist Ayamzaman is 10/1 is quite a surreal things to see: I nearly fell off my sofa! Yet he is still not the value in the race for me as there is so much early I have to side with the dog with the best draw and that is Dower Matt. He will have to reproduce his scintillating 3.56 sectional that he did just over a week ago to be competitive but if they all make the bend together which is very likely, he can squeeze round the inside. Newinn Rocket is an awesome early-paced merchant at Monmore and Southern Mesut has fantastic early but was rather fortunate to go clear on Friday if you ask me. Droopys Quincy is favourite based on the fact that if he does make the bend, he won’t be caught but I cannot have him inside Southern Mesut (who is mid-wide) and Newinn Rocket who has a tendency to run off the bends. Those two factors, accompanied with the aforementioned Ayamzaman who could be the most overpriced dog that I can remember if he is back to his best for one last race, means that Quincy has to be taken on: Matt can squeeze up the inside, just!

20:34 – Maxi Marathon

This is the type of distance that has me standing in the corner with my ears pinned back hoping that the human’s don’t make me run it: 925m! When they bark “Maxi”, they mean “Maxi” and us greyhounds were surely not built to run this far! Anyway, some of my crazy colleagues can get this distance and one which could probably go further is Barley Bussell. She only starts to get going on about her 5th circuit but she is one of the few that can genuinely grind this distance out and she can swoop late. Express Vision beat Mullpark Millkai over the Course and Distance the last time Sky were here but that was a weaker race than tonight’s. Fatice Cream stays as well but lacks the change of gear that Bussell has. Em Millie won the Boxing Day Marathon impressively at Crayford but it was hardly a vintage renewal of that tournament and most of her colleagues were still probably full from the Christmas meal of Turkey, Bread and more Turkey. Bussell to make late strides to win this.

20:49 – Stayers

Here we find the best value of the night and it’s had me barking and running round in circles all day at the thought of the doggie treats I can have on him. Fairhill Paddy can make a mockery of his price here. He has really come into his own over this Course and Distance and whilst he bypassed the Coronation Cup, he would have been one of the main protagonists in tonight’s finale had he been entered for the tournament. His mix of early pace and drive from the 3rd bend is the perfect combination for this niche distance and he can make-all. Smiler Jack has been a credit to connections over the years and whilst this is his favourite track as well, he doesn’t quite have the same ability that he did in his hay day. Lenson Pele is a good dog on the bunny but it is hard to see him leading Paddy this evening which is a similar story for the bitch Cavan Dancer. Paddy’s a fair bit better than these.

21:04 – Marathon

Laughing Sam is another classic Romford sort and can have us howling from the sofa if he leads tonight. Stepping him up in trip worked the oracle last time as he needs to lead to be seen at his best: he can lead tonight. He has a good draw next to the enigmatic yet strong Castlehill Aris who we will not want to see near Sam at too early a stage. Mollys Hope has brought some consistency to her game but often finds one or two just too good for her; she certainly has the ability to win. Sam is the value though to make-all.

21:19 – Coronation Cup Final

In a race where one of Mark Wallis’ four runners will surely be crowned the winner, the Coronation Cup Final has a really open feel to it. The crucial aspect of the race for me is that there are a lot of front runners in the race who don’t like to be headed at any point of their efforts. These include Jazz Tilly, Aayamzamodel and Reel Trickyone and whilst they don’t throw in their dog towel if they are led, they rarely overtake another colleague. If any of those three skip clear then they all stay so it will be hard to envisage anything overtaking them (bar a highly unlikely dream run for Tambourine Man). So, the value in the race is to go with the best drawn bitch and that is Hometown Honey who likes to lead herself, but this is a trip short of her maximum so even if she doesn’t lead, she can stay handy round the outside before potentially overpowering the front-runners in the latter stages. It is a really competitive race with the break being of great importance, but Honey is the value because of her staying prowess if she does get to the front eventually.

So, here are the recommendations:

Laughing Sam – 1 chewstick @ 5/1

There are my thoughts then! As ever, if you have any comments please tweet me and I’ll bark back at you faster than the Maxi Marathon is ran tonight! It promises to be a fascinating, compelling card and I want to hear the Lolly Faithful’s howls of delight when Paddy leads from the comfort of my sofa!