One of the most intriguing and enjoyable tournaments of the year concludes at Sheffield tonight in the 3 Steps to Victory as my colleagues are put to their longest and toughest test: do they stay?!  Class hounds have come to the fore over the years in this unique competition with Patchys Kerry and Hather George notably courageous and consistent winners but the performance of Ballymac Eske’s track record in 2014 at his first attempt over a 6 bend trip was a dazzling display of his freakish, relentless pace.  Elsewhere on the card we have a collection of decent opens at Owlerton Stadium (where the locals always have a bark or two on home sand) to get our teeth into over a nice range of trips.  It is alway of note at Sheffield that course form is important as the dogs seem to be constantly running on the turn which doesn’t help the galloping types.  As ever, I have found the value for the Lolly Faithful as we look to continue to bash those pesky bookies!

7:11 – Puppy

How good the Ballymac Vic x Droopys Danneel litter will be over time should be fascinating viewing over the next couple of years yet it must be remembered that like any young tyke, they are still finding their paws on the sand and what their work is about!  This, however, looks a comfortable task for Dorotas Woo Hoo in his favoured 6 box to stretch out down the back and show what all the fuss is about.  The challengers have it all to do to be on his level (hence the price) but Sir Dancealot is one for any notebook as he is one of the best young dogs Hall Green has seen in many years and is rapidly improving for such a well-bred sort.  Droopys Podge is another interesting mating as a half-brother to Droopys Buick so the contest between “the Dancer” and Podge should be good viewing if ultimately the winner has already flown by then.

Selection: T6 – Dorotas Woo Hoo

7:26 – Sprint

Everyone’s favourite race has an out-of-form favourite well-worth taking on in Cloncunny Ardera who wants to be drawn in the middle for me and has been a jolly-spoiler in his career as opposed to a reliable short-odds winner.  This leads the way to consider either Lowgate Mason or Rappers Station as the viable alternatives at a nice price.  Preference is for Mason who is well-liked by his connections and has the draw on the inside of his sprinting rivals that he can use to his advantage at the first bend.  Lightfoot Scholar is a useful early-paced performer over 4 bends but is not an out-and-out sprinter so Mason should show him a clean set of paws and at the price I will find out!

Selection: T3 – Lowgate Mason

7:43 – Stayers

Rubys Rascal is very tough to peg back when he gets a cheap lead but I’m not sure he’s entriely convincing in behind and here he faces local Geelo Bullet who could easily lead him up.  Bullet was a stalwart for the Sheffield Track Championship team and his decisive early and then relentless pursuit of that elusive bunny is a potent combination over this 6 bend trip.  The discrepancy in the price of Rascal and Bullet is too big considering they both want to string them out so the value has to be in the latter.  A definite lurking danger at the prices is Pointless Pearl who is starting to show that she likes a target to aim at so long as it has a tail!  The Queen Mother Memorial Cup winner over C+D is not the type to win by half the track but it could be a great race if she turns in behind the pace setters and gets after them; that being barked, this requires her to have tremendous luck in running and so the selection has to be the Bullet to fire.

Selection: T6 – Geelo Bullet

7:59 – Sprint

It’s fantastic to see a duplicate of the ultimate distance in front of the Sky cameras and in a classier affair than the first offering, Lissom Sheldo has a decent opportunity to unleash his ferocious early.  Ela Ela Genie has his box in 1 but it’s hard to recommend a hound who is so conducive to missing the break (hardly ideal for a sprinter) and is not showing his pace up of late that made him difficult to beat when drawn inside; that coupled with his paw record at Sheffield for a dog of his talent in 1 win from 5 starts means that he is readily opposable.  Sheldo has been banging his wrist on the door of the elite sprinters and tonight he can demonstrate why.

Selection: T2 – Lissom Sheldo

8:16 – Puppy Cup Final

The young tykes have a go here in their final and he’s odds-on for a reason, but there has to be value in opposing Geelo Monty who has shown he is not bulletproof by any stretch of the imagination.  He may turn out to be a different class to these over time but Salacres Koeman is not slow (although he evidently prefers to be drawn out wide in 6) and the unexposed improver Brazen Emperor is too pacey a dog to not have onside at 10/1.  Emperor made a mess of the start in the heats but that’s easily excusable for one of his age and yet he still showed glimpses of a turn of paw that could make him useful in the future.  This potential was shown to be no fluke as he powered home in the semi-finals from a much better start and it is worth taking a chance he can replicate a similar break this evening and give Monty a real race.

Selection: T4 – Brazen Emperor

8:33 – Standard

The seemingly timeless Calco Flyer has shown no signs of abating in his dominance of these one-off Sky races but his reign of supremacy has a serious question to answer in the local flyer Candlelight Fire tonight.  Flyer has been flying out of anywhere from Romford to Monmore but he will need to ping like me again tonight to be on terms with Fire at the bend of his home track that he dominates.  Those pesky bookmakers have this as a match with a sort of feel of any price the rest (which seems a little unfair on the enimagtic but dangerously useful Old Joe Golden) and with my admiration of Flyer and his achievements over what seems like forever, it is a race to just savour rather than invest.

Selection: T2 – Candlelight Fire

8:51 – Super Standard

I nearly fell off my sofa following my 3rd morning nap when I saw that Tynwald Baz was not favourite for this race and 3/1 is huge.  Oscar Whisky has undoubted pace but he showed in the Arc final that any sort of hustle and bustle (as he encountered on the run-up) leads to him surrendering his position before getting going again and Baz could easily make the bend and make-all here.  The pace that Baz showed at Monmore in particular on Puppy Derby Final night there showed he is in rude health from any draw at the moment and he is the type that takes a lot of pegging back now his confidence is up.  He will have to get it right at the boxes as he cannot back-run Whisky (not many in the country could) but he is simply too big to continue his rich vein of form with this nice long-run up over the trip playing into his paws.

Selection: T3 – Tynwald Baz NAP

9:08 – 3 Steps to Victory Final

Droopys Live comes into this final with far too many questions to answer to make her a worthy favourite and the hype of her early career might have surpassed her actual achievements now.  It is questionable whether she is guaranteed to stay and whilst she made up a huge amount of ground after bother in the 500m semi-final, she surely can’t give a dog with the quality and experience of Ballymac Ramsey that much of a start and a beating.  Ramsey has won over 630m at Monmore and whilst that is very much short 6 bend test, he was hardly stopping dead at the line on that occassion and if he can hold off the early intentions of Shaneboy Freddie (who has a brutish tenacity about him) then Ramsey can be too far gone around his favourite venue (8 wins from 12 starts) for Droopys Live to get near enough to him; furthermore, although she has won from 4 it was against lesser dogs than the likes of Ramsey and Freddie and so backers of her are heavily reliant on her outstaying those two in my dog’s honest opinion.  It will be some achievement if she manages it but on the draw and his proven class I definitely prefer to be with Ramsey to skip clear and hold on for connections that know how to win this tournament on home soil.

Selection: T2 – Ballymac Ramsey

Here are the recommendations:

7:26 – Lowgate Mason (1 doggie treat @ 6/1)

7:43 – Geelo Bullet (1 piece of bread @ 4/1)

7:59 – Lissom Sheldo (1 chewstick @ 7/2)

8:51 – Tynwald Baz (2 dog bones @ 3/1)

9:08 – Ballymac Ramsey (1 chicken breast @ 9/4)

So there are my thoughts on the proceedings! As ever, if you have any comments please don’t hesitate to tweet me and I’ll bark right back at you as I spin round in excitement as I think I’m about to go on a walk (rustling leads and gathering wellies a key giveaway from the humans)!!!  It’s a shame there aren’t more tri-distant tournaments like this in the calendar year to add to the variety of the offerings on show but until then, savour this final tonight and may the best stayer win!

Enjoy the racing,

Jimmy