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Evans Treble Leads The Way On Romford's Friday Card

Friday night saw open race action at both Romford and Sunderland with 20 opens between them.

Matt Newman

09 Aug 2025

Evans Friday Treble Leads The Way On Romford's Friday Card

Romford Treble for Gemma Evans

It took Whitewood Libre a couple of months to settle in at Romford. She didn't manage to get her head in front on any of her first nine starts for Gemma Evans but has won four of her eight since and made the final of the Category One Coral Coronation Cup. It's safe to say that she is fully settled into her new surroundings now and producing some excellent efforts, including the quickest 575m run last night.

The other two wins earlier on the card for Evans both came over the 400m trip. Tasty Turkish stopped the clock at 23.98 on his race debut, a run that suggests he is worth noting. Gallant King is an Apr 22 whelp at the other end of his career, getting off the mark in open company.

Dave Lee had the best 400m performance of the evening with Ontherun Eden in the final race of the night. There have only been seven quicker times this year over the trip than his 23.65 effort which secured a hat-trick of wins.

There was a double on the night for Maxine Locke, including another sprinting win for Tullymurry Dylan. He had three of the top five times over 225m there last year and while he has not been to that level in 2025, it was a smart return to action having been off since June. Dashaway Daisy completed the double off a frankly ridiculous 3.56 split!

A 750m contest was won by Alright Gordy for David Lewis. It was his 10th open race win of 2025, just six dogs have won more, winning for the second time in four starts at the London Road circuit.

Another with 10 open race wins on the year now is Piemans Goalie. The David Mullins-trained son of Gaytime Hawk is one of the most consistent performers on the circuit, with last night's run arguably a career-best.

Capel Moon has not had many opportunities for Tony Gifkins. She was an impressive Cork winner on her sole Irish start, landing a 462m contest for Gifkins at Yarmouth before landing her first six-bend win on her second Romford start last night. A 35.25 effort suggests she's going to be winning plenty more around here.

Other winners on the card were Miami Yeats for Martyn Wiley, Bridefort Lady for Nathan Hunt and Yahoo Megan for Patrick Janssens.

Caile and Heilbron at the double on Sunderland's card

The top performance of the night over the 450m distance came from Steven Caile's Crooks Stevie. It's his third win on the bounce after a pair of Newcastle A1 victories. Caile had been on target earlier on in the day with Highview Nell, another to have hit a rude patch of health in recent times.

Tom Heilbron also enjoyed a pair of winners. Madabout Peck picked up his seventh track win on his second run back after making back-to-back BetGoodwin Pall Mall finals. Toddys Tank was his other winner, running down Sunnyside Jayden in the shadow of the post.

Not So Slow has joined Scottish trainer Garry Hamilton and was quickly off the mark for his new trainer with a 15.46 success. That was the fourth quickest run of the year over the sprint trip and given it's only two months since he chased home Shadow Storm on Derby final night at Towcester, there should be plenty of fun still to be had with him.

A dry spell was ended for Bramble Elvis. Without a win since August of last year, he got his head back in front for Chloe Hardy. He has plenty of gaps on his card which suggests he hasn't been the easiest to train, so credit to the team in gaining the reward for their perseverance.

The other pair of races on the card were sprint contests. Carl Jackson is having a career year, picking up open race winner 22 for the campaign courtesy of Kiddy Kid. Seven winners in 2023 was a best, topped by 11 last year for a kennel improving rapidly. Chamberlain Hope picked up the other contest for Mark Bulmer.