Red-hot Romeo Blade is on fire

Blade, who does not turn two until January, offered up an encouraging glimpse into the future as he led from start to finish to win one of three Open finals at Monmore last weekend.

It was just his second-ever race over 630 metres – following up another triumph in the heats the weekend prior – and Lea is delighted with the progress he has made in such a short space of time.

“He’s turning into a great little puppy. He’s only young, not two yet,” said Lea.

“We’re hopefully going to go for the St Leger at Doncaster with him. That’s the plan we have at the minute.

“He’s a lovely dog, clean in the kennel, good temperament – you can put him with anybody and he’s happy to see anybody.

“That was only his second time over the six-bend trip, so it just shows there’s hopefully better things to come from him.

“We’re definitely excited. We have his brother as well, Romeo Wildcat who is a little bit more green, but hopefully he’ll come on in leaps and bounds as well.”

Saturday’s other two finals saw Keefill Danny, trained by Doncaster’s Philip Milner, have an eye-catching success in the Ladbrokes.com 480 Puppies.

Dapper Rodney (Nathan Hunt) came out on top in the Ladbrokes.com 480 while one of the earlier opens, race five, was a dead heat between Bambis Magic and Belles Good.

Deputy racing manager Steve Rollinson said: “A thoroughly enjoyable night of Open racing had several impressive performances.

“Romeo Blade from led start to finish, while Belles Good, trained by Brian Thompson, finished well and made up a lot of track to dead heat with Bambis Magic in race five.

“Another notable showing came later in the night, with Cooly Woowoo winning race 12 – her first 630m race since March 2021.”

Monmore, meanwhile, will be switching racing this Saturday to Friday, to minimise the effects that Bonfire Night and the firework displays can have on dogs.