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2007 Trainers Championship report
CHARLIE LISTER won his third Trainers Championship in seven years at Hall Green on March 20th.
Lister, who is also the reigning Champion Trainer, scored maximum points in four of the eight races courtesy of smart wins by Geordie Parker, Fear Haribo, Shelbourne Rene and crucially, Zigzag Dutchy who’s win sealed the victory for Lister.
MARK WALLIS failed to defend the title he won at Wimbledon twelve months previously but was a gallant runner-up and, thanks to wins by Roswell Spaceman, Centaur Decree and Raging Jack, ensured that the title was decided in the very last race.
JOHN MULLINS was the only other trainer to record a win in the eight contributing races; his Romford Car Two running a brilliant race over the six bend trip to beat Wallis’ Blackmagic Guy by over four lengths.
BRIAN CLEMENSON sent out the runner-up in three of the races with his Coventry Bees putting in a particularly encouraging run after a relatively quiet spell.
SEAMUS CAHILL and ERNIE GASKIN were both out of luck but arguably their teams lacked the strength in depth of Lister and Wallis. Neither were disgraced, however, and fully deserved their place in the line up following outstanding performances on the open race circuit in 2006.
FINAL SCORES: Charlie Lister 55pts, Mark Wallis 52pts, John Mullins 37pts, Brian Clemenson 31pts, Seamus Cahill 18pts, Ernie Gaskin 15pts
(Points awarded as follows: First 10 points, Second 6 points, Third 4 points, Fourth 3 points, Fifth 2 points, Sixth 1 point)
Click here for full results from the night!
2006 Trainers Championship report
MARK WALLIS landed his first Trainers' Championship win with four winners on the Betfair-sponsored, live-on Sky meeting at Wimbledon on Tuesday (March 14). Having become Champion Trainer in 2005, a fantastic achievement in his first year as the licence holder having taken over from mother-in-law Linda Jones at Imperial Kennels in Suffolk, Wallis plundered another trophy for the cabinet with victory over his peers.
The Trainers' Championship meeting brings together the top six handlers from the previous year's standings and it was Charlie Lister, who had 'done' a Wallis with back-to-back champion trainer and trainers' championship titles 12 months previously, who went to traps favourite. But it was Hove trainer Brian Clemenson, who had won three of the last four trainers' championship meetings, who struck first with SHELBOURNE POOPA racing to victory in all-the-way fashion from favourite and Lister-trained Robbie De Niro, to add to her recent Emerald Cup victory at Coventry. The Wallis-trained Fear Rien finished third here, but the kennel scored maximum points in the sprint event with ROSWELL SPACEMAN making the most of a trap one draw to brush aside Wellington at the turn, with favourite Ningbo Jack pacing up and into trouble at the turn.
SAVING TIME, a kennelmate of Ningbo Jack's at Lister's, raced clear of his puppy rivals in the next event. Aided by crowding at the bend, the youngster led home Songs Of Praise (Wallis) to win in a fast 27.64sec for the 460m trip. Droopys Hotshot finished third for the Paul Young champ. All eyes in the second division of the 668m races were on STAR OF DROMIN, all-conquering at Walthamstow but who was looking to land her first Wimbledon win. After a great battle with first David Pruhs's Gunner Black, and then Clemenson's Princess Monalulu, she justified short odds. With one eye on the Trainers' Championship meeting, and scoring valuable points, and one on the Derby, also at Wimbledon, the Lister-trained ZIGZAG DUTCHY went to traps a warm order for the second dvision of the 480m event. Trapping in front, he was impressive to beat the game Champagne Moment (Clemenson).
JANUARY TIGER (Wallis) was ignored in the market ahead of the top division of the 460m, but in a trouble-marred race in which Bat On (Lister) and Westmead Olivia (Nick Savva) were knocked over, the Derby semi-finalist of 2005, was always prominent and strode clear to beat favourite Bubbly Classic (Clemenson).
BLACKMAGIC GUY completed the 'yankee' of winners for Wallis in the top division of the six-bend event in a race that also cut up badly with favourite Greenacre Lin (Clemenson) one of three runners who took a tumble in the race. But Pruhs's Show Domingo was only just denied in a decent buckle between the pair. However, it all meant that, going into the final leg, Wallis had an unassailable lead over his rivals, and was assured of the prize-money for the kennel and kennelhands, three of whom - Patrick Janssens, Pete Vernon, Sid Huett - were at Wimbledon preparing the Imperial Kennels team. But although crowned champion, there was still the small matter of the top division of the 480m, and a certain Derby favourite Fear Me (Lister) and reigning Derby champion WESTMEAD HAWK (Savva) to go head-to-head, with the likes of Shelbourne Nina (Clemenson) and Ronnies Champion (Wallis) also providing tough opposition.
The race itself was marred by an injury to front-running Shelbourne Nina, who had victory in her sights before breaking down between the third and fourth turns. Fear Me took it up, but then was swamped by the now familiar whirlwind finish of 'The Hawk' as trainer Savva struck in the last.
FINAL SCORES: 56 Mark Wallis, 39 Charlie Lister, 35 Brian Clemenson, David Pruhs 28, Nick Savva 26, Paul Young 24.
Trainers' Championship points (eight races): First 10 points, Second 6pts, Third 4pts, Fourth 3pts, Fifth 2pts, Sixth 1pt.
Click here for results from the night! |
