[Tony2005]

Traffic nightmare allows the Airport to take off


HOT ante-post favourite Adageo Bob was dramatically ruled of the Coral Essex Vase semi-finals at Romford last night with trainer Mark Wallis seriously delayed in traffic en route to the track.

GBGB rules state a greyhound has to begin the kennelling process a minimum of 45 minutes prior to racing so Wallis's Blonde Razor, due to run in the first semi at 8.18, was first to be ruled out when not at Romford by 7.33, with Adageo Bob withdrawn from the second semi-final at 8.34 soon after 7.49.

Wallis subsequently arrived at Romford around 8pm meaning Rosealinda and Jimmy Nailed On were able to take their chance in the third semi-final but were eliminated as it was won in all-the-way fashion by Maxine Locke's Adoremus from trackmate Tuna Crunch in 35.12sec.

That was not the fastest time of the night with that honour going to Kevin Hutton's Airport Captain who made all in the absence of Adageo Bob in the second semi as he recorded 35.06sec, while the opening saw Liz McNair's Ballymac Aalto collar Any Dak close home to win in 35.39sec.

Romford racing manager Peter O'Dowd said of the Wallis situation: "Mark kept us full informed and we tried to give him every assistance but he was still on the M25 at the time that Blonde Razor needed to be here and ran out of time with Adageo Bob too. Obviously it has cast a shadow over the competition."

However, there was good news for punters who had backed either Adageo Bob or Blonde Razor with the sponsor as Coral announced that it would be making an ex-gratia refund of all ante post stakes on the two Wallis greyhounds.

“It is very unusual for a greyhound to turn up too late to run in a major competition and it would be cruel in the extreme to deny ante post backers their money back in these circumstances, particularly given one of the dogs is the well backed favourite for the event, when they haven’t even had a run for their money”, said Simon Clare, Coral PR director.
“By refunding stakes these customers will not be left with a bad taste in their mouths and may even decide to reinvest their returns on another greyhound to win the Coral Essex Vase. We are refunding a decent five figure sum but it’s our track, it’s our competition and it’s the right thing to do”, said Clare.