A card that is more mouthwatering than when a human cooks a Chicken Casserole this evening and it should be a great night at Wimbledon!  The Derby dogs are gradually preparing for their tilt at the 250,000 doggie treat prize for the winner and we get to see 6 class juveniles compete tonight in the finale.  The Springbok has a short-priced favourite as the market leaders antepost have all but crashed out (often by hitting the hurdles) but there is surely value in such an inexperienced bunch to get against the 4/6 favourite, I have.  The rest of the card sees some Derby dogs reappearing in Standards and it must be barked that these dogs should be nowhere near firing on all cylinders at this stage of their campaign so those races (and previous form) should be treated with caution in my dog’s honest opinion.  The marathon has a cracking bet with a potential star of the staying scene in the making and as ever, I have found some value for the Lolly Faithful:

19:11 – Puppy

The young tykes have a go to start the proceedings and whilst there are no real potential superstars here arguably, it should be an interesting race to see some youngsters put through their paces pre-Derby.  See No Gamble has nice pace but he has no sort of draw for a wide-dog (needs 6) and with the restaurant-seeker inside him so the value is Lenson Jed who can lead and make-all.  He’ll have to be on his toes to beat the 1 to the bend but that’s the only way he can’t lead the inside here and beat the pawly drawn wides.

19:26 – Standard

A strong looking Division 2 of the standard trip here sees Swift Keith and Airfield Paudie make their seasonal bow-wows.  Whilst they could be in contention come May, the value is elsewhere as they will most like not be match-fit and with that in mind, Ballygibbon King is drawn to pounce down the back.  Paudie goes left at the bend (thankfully, some might bark) so King can have the middle to himself and if he leads, he is not back-run.

19:43 – Bitches

The race which has me on the edge of my seat woofing like a woofy thing sees the return of Jaytee China following her unfortunate campaign in the Oaks at the back end of last year.  She hit the deck in that competition and whilst WImbledon gives her more time to get to the front and drive the bend as she so powerfully does, there has to be concern that she could be in trouble again today if Aero Babooshka paces up as she can do.  Hoof It Katie and Forest Sara are no mugs but they will probably be looking for each other’s room and this could get messy.  If it doesn’t, China is all class.

19:59 – Springbok Final

The novices’ finale over the obstacles has Reculver Ozzie too short based on his blundering effort in the Semi-Finals.  He’s 3 lengths and the rest quicker than all of these on the bunny and could jump them silly, but he’s too short to do so as a ropey novice.  Final Farloe has ran his heart out each time over the sticks and it is rare for such a young dog to be given a go over the hurdles so he must have shown ability on the schooling tracks when they gave him a go over the sticks: he looks big to do a 29:70 and win this.

20:16 – Marathon

Bubbly Time looks very short here for a bitch that was surely primed for the Golden Jacket final, didn’t go past the admittedly game Wiki Waki Woo when poised to do so and against some useful marathon performers here. Supreme Rossie and Musical Fawn need about 42 miles and so that leaves us with the endless potential over this trip for Market Heights. He was no match for a freakishly good performance by Roxholme Magic at Crayford but duly gave that form-line a huge boost when destroying his decent opponents on Golden Jacket Final night. He won over 687m here well earlier in the year and how he is not favourite for this is anyone’s guess! The other to have onside is the ludicrously priced Tyrur Ashleigh who was not stopping over 687m last time out and could easily lead these for a long way: at 25/1 earlier this morning she was far too big! The reverse forecast is the way to be dining in style for the rest of the year.

20:33 – Standard

Paradise Silva is a worthy favourite here as he goes well fresh and ran the track extremely well in the early stages of the Derby last year, which is a similar standard to this tonight. The dog who is long, however, is Mash Mad Blackie who could be anything now he has completed his treble at Towcester. The form at Towcester is still questionable as the dogs winning there have not really travelled too far to date but Blackie looks big all the same following a very good trial in his first look at the track.

20:51 – Stayers

Vanrooney is another Towcester dog for Mark Wallis who is running very well round there and whilst his exploits in the Derby last year were pretty admirable (went into joint-favourite at one stage), whether he actually runs this track well is debatable. He will have to here to justify favouritism as there are some useful sorts and the dog to back is Chicago to get on the bunny. He will have to lead Wiki Waki Woo as we now know she stays (Golden Jacket winner over 714m last week) but Chicago won the first round of the St. Leger here last year in make-all fashion, won a round of the Golden Jacket in make-all fashion and you guessed it, can make-all here. 5/1 is certainly too big that he does so.

21:08 – Juvenile

An intriguing Juvenile can go the way of Ireland with Lenson Sanchez who is unbeaten at the track (in Puppy class admittedly) and is drawn to attack these bends as he does so well round here. Newinn Yolo has raw speed and ability but can put in a howler of a performance now and again inexplicably so is hardly one to trust at 2/1 when he has Likeitalot stepping right into him out of the boxes. Maum Legend put in a very good trial as his first look, tries his hardest and has the class of a top greyhound but he can miss the break and he’ll have to turn 2nd or 3rd here to beat any of these: he could do. Ballymac Brogan is going to find this too hot in my dog’s honest opinion and Laughing Gravy will need to grow a 5th leg to stay this trip if you ask me.

Here are the recommendations:

21:08 – Lenson Sanchez – 1 ladle of chicken casserole @ 10/3

So there are my thoughts on the proceedings! As ever, please tweet me if you have any comments and I promise to bark back at you with all the enthusiasm I’ll be giving to the bitches race tonight! There’ll be even louder woofs if Ashleigh hits the Market Heights

Enjoy the racing,

Jimmy