Ardmayle Champ won the Puppy Derby at Monmore on Thursday in what was a poor competition for me. The ante-post recommendation Cherryhill Boys went out in the semi finals and I layed the Matt Dartnall's dog in the decider.

The final was a strange race with just about everything apart from the first two home sleeping in the boxes and I knew I was in trouble when Ardmayle Champ got to the first bend in an unexpected lead. Ballymac Ken nearly saved the day failing to catch the winner by a short head and leading just after the line but that would've been a get out of jail job as I didn't really expect him to be competitive.

The winner now heads to Shawfield for the Scottish Derby and the winner’s handler reckons there's further improvement to come from this son of Droopys Kewell.