It seems everyone loves long-distance races and at Crayford our marathon distance is over 874m, which equates to two-and-a-half circuits of the track.

We had one such race on Saturday and it could be that in winner Lady Belle we have found a new staying star.

been pleasantly surprised at the way in which her dog won.
The dog is trained by Julie Luckhurst and began her racing career here last September. Having had just two races over each of 380, 540 and 714m, her trainer entered her for the marathon open race and will have

Starting at odds of 9-2 in the marathon, she ran the first two circuits in fourth place but went into overdrive during the last 150m to draw effortlessly clear of the field – five-and-three-quarter lengths ahead of odds-on favourite Pony Bride.

This race will leave no one in any doubt that she will be finishing strongly in her forthcoming 714m events at Crayford, so take note.

Magical Roddy has made an immediate impact in just three races having joined Steve Gammon’s kennels after racing at Brighton.

The dog’s impressive set of trials saw him on the race card in grade A2 over 380m.

After missing his break in his debut race, he won at the second time of asking having flown out of the traps.

That win resulted in the dog racing in top grade A1 at the weekend and again he trapped out so quickly the race was over by the time he turned into the back straight.

Having recorded a sectional time, trap-to-line first time round, of a blistering 3.50sec, the writing was on the wall.

There are stronger individuals for him to race against in the top grade, so having won at 9-2, could he be one of those value dogs that wins at good odds? He could well be if trapping that quickly again.

My hot tip this week is for Cassha Beauty after finishing second in her debut race at 5-1. To lose by just the distance of a neck was desperately unlucky, so there is every reason to think that she will go one better next time.