The East Anglian Derby goes out live on Sky Sports 3 tonight from Yarmouth. Big race time is as usual 9:45pm with coverage of the supporting card starting at 7:30pm. Praise has to go to Yarmouth and the sponsors Betfair for putting up an excellent £20000 first prize with decent money on offer for the minor honours too.
Speed Figs
T2 - Ninja Jamie 100
T6 - Droopys Carvalho 85
T3 - Movealong Blue 84
T1 - Legal Major 46+
T5 - Roswell Startrek 45
T4 - Cobra Striking 33
Ninja Jamie is clear on the figures and bids to become Charlie Lister's ninth East Anglian Derby winner. Next best are Droopys Carvalho and Movealong Blue who were only a short head apart when they met in the second round. The remainder are well behind according to my calculations but I am slightly concerned about the times from semi-final night which were markedly slower than what these dogs had previously achieved.
Skydogs Tissue
Using the speed figures as a basis and taking into account the trap draw and pace scenarios I have come up with the 'tissue' below -
6/5 Ninja Jamie, 9/2 Movealong Blue, 5/1 Droopys Carvalho, 11/1 Cobra Striking, 14/1 Roswell Startrek, 18/1 Legal Major
Ninja Jamie is the favourite with the bookies and rightly so. The 5/6 available is a little short but Betfair players can currently take slightly above even money which seems fair enough. Movealong Blue is very interesting. I make this locally trained blue dog a 9/2 shot but Ladbrokes go 12’s. Paul Philpott's hound is capable of a quick exit and may just make it over to the rails ahead of Ninja Jamie and Legal Major, if he does he's capable of a big run. Droopys Carvalho is closely matched with Movealong Blue and although he's well drawn he's likely to be behind early and will have to find his way through dogs to win. Ernie Gaskin is doubly represented with Legal Major and Cobra Striking. The latter is lightening quick from the traps and will give supporters a run for their money at 20/1 with Corals, Hills and Sporting Bet. He is likely to need trouble behind though if he's going to stay out in front to the line.
As has been the case lately I'm going to look to the specials for my main bet and that is Movealong Blue to beat Roswell Startrek. Stan James and Blue Square can't split the pair and go 5/6 both dogs but I make 'Blue' around a 2/5 shot to come out on top. I also think that he’s decent value at 7-9 on the 50-25-10 spread market and will be topping up with a small buy.
