Dakota destroys them!

Lingfield on a Saturday night seems to be the place to be as we made it another winning weekend at the Surrey venue after Dakota City put in an astonishing display to lose his maiden tag.
Disappointing in a few runs for us, we had felt that he wasn't really putting it all in so we tried a visor on him and it seemed to do the trick as he came from last to first and win easily.
It was pretty spectacular to watch as he appeared to have no chance for most of the race but jockey Adam Beschizza made a brilliant mid-race move which saw him swoop the field and grab the lead. If you still can't believe he won, owner Matt Bisogno has summarised the race here on YouTube.
This win should do the horse's confidence the world of good and we have also learnt that he probably doesn't like being hit with the stick as Adam dropped it halfway round so never got the chance to use it!

Dakota City storms home in the Lingfield twilight

Dakota's win capped off a busy week with runners most days and there were some good performances elsewhere. The Ducking Stool has been struggling for form this year but her third place finish at Newbury was a step in the right direction and hopefully she can build on this effort. Also filling the third spot was Limerick Lord who remains very consistent and will be getting his head in front soon.

Hitting the track for the first time on Friday was Duke Of Diamonds. He has been a late maturing gelding and thankfully his owners have given me the time to let him mature until he was ready to run. He made his debut at Newmarket and put in a very respectable display to finish fourth. He seemed to love the soft ground and looks likely to get a long trip.

Duke Of Diamonds finishes 4th at HQ

Owners Jon and Carol look happy with the result!

After a good deal of runners last week, there aren't as many to send out over the next few days so it is not until Thursday that we head off racing. Attain made it a perfect start for our new apprentice Luke Rowe when scoring at Lingfield last weekend and hopefully the pair can double up at Epsom. Attain has never really had the soft ground he loves for a long time now and I'm sure that if he gets it he'll be better than we've seen even up to now.
Dakota City is likely to get a hike in the weights for his win so I'll enter him at Lingfield next Saturday just in case the handicapper does put him right up. I'll have to see how fresh he is after this run but at least we have an option and can decide what to do when the new ratings come out on Tuesday.

Silver Alliance (Luke) & Dark Diamond (Nick) stride out on the Flat Gallop

THREE TO FOLLOW UPDATE
Dakota City was one of the most popular selections this season so his win has seen a big shake up in the rankings. Along with The Ducking Stool's placing, many have seen themselves come out of the dreaded 'zero points' club!

Mark Rimmer 19
Ros Cousens 18
Steve Moore 17
Shelley Birkett 17
Adam Beschizza 17
Jim Stevens 17
Malc Shields 14
Megan Digby Baker 12
John Birkett 12
Geoff Roberts 12
Barbara Walton 12
Gordon Hill 12
Poppy Feilden 11
Eddie Partridge 11
Rita Aspland 11
Julia Feilden 11
Paula Smith 11
Steve Clarke 11
Julie Feilden 9
Linda Wright 8
Stephen Broadley 8
Martyn Clark 8
Dominic Lisle 8
Jason Coote 7
Sophie Collington 7
Chris Shirran 7
Dave Barnett 7
Brian Reilly 6
Jonathan Kinge 6
Sam Feilden 6
Steve Springford 6
Ryan Moore 6
Liz Moore 6
Dave Morris 6
Phil Collington 6
Rachael Shucksmith 6
Rob Weston 6
Lee Cousens 6
Tina 6
Kel Mansfield 6
Sarah Macdonald 6
Tessa Stone 6
Harry Hurst 6
Ged Turley 6
Bill Aspland 6
Geoffrey Walton 5
Nick Feilden 5
Martin Godfrey 5
Wayne Moore 5
Michael Buckley 5
Sheila Collington 5
Matt Bisgono 5
Robert Wright 5
Adi Tuddenham 5
Bill Burgess 4
Allan Forster 3
Trevor Fuller 3
Barry Hine 3
Carol Bushnell 1
Chris Shelley 1
Sophie Feilden 1
Maureen Case 1
James Collington 1
Jane Shirran 1
Tony Birkett 1
Anthea Telford 1
Lewis Richards 1

PLUS SIX OTHERS ON ZERO POINTS