The six heats of this year’s Ladbrokes Golden Jacket were run last Saturday and the starting field has now been reduced from 36 to 18.

Hot ante-post favourite Roxholme Dream put in an impressive performance in heat one to register her 12th win in 13 competitive races since arriving from Ireland.

Her price to win outright is as short as 11/8, having crossed the line seven lengths ahead of her heat opponents after leading from trap to line, but while she looks the one to beat things may not be as clear-cut.

The race is 714m which is two complete circuits. This is very useful given we get times for each dog after each circuit which tells us who are fastest early on and which have stamina second half.

The six heat winners’ times, in seconds, at halfway and the line were: Roxholme Dream (23.12-45.56), Droopys Bear (23.23-45.69), Newinn Echo (23.47-45.74), Rearguard Bond (23.53-45.61), Racenight Jenny (23.44-45.48) and Chicago (23.30-45.71).

Connections of Roxholme Dream will be hoping their dog can lead in both her semi-final and final races, as was the case in her heat race at the weekend. But what if she doesn’t lead?

Her only defeat so far came at Brighton in September when she finished second after missing her break from the traps and was crowded out.

Many will say trap five on that occasion was not ideal but she had won out of that box and trap six. It would be good for the event to see her win, but you must always be objective and should she experience trouble the door will be wide open for others.

My pre-race feeling was Droopys Bear had a great chance and I have not changed that view, but I was impressed with Racenight Jenny. Jenny has had just four races in the UK – one where she broke the track record at Wimbledon over 687m in early November.

In the heats at halfway she was four lengths behind Roxholme Dream but came home a length in front so made up five lengths on the second circuit. This cannot be ignored.

This is exactly what is needed to win the Jacket so I am going to side with Racenight Jenny.

The semis are today (Thursday) with gates open 1pm, and we are giving free entry on this fixture as well as on final night on Tuesday when we will open at 5.30pm.