TALKING DOGS ON MONDAY 12TH MAY

GRI

Ian Fortune and Tommy Lyons give us their thoughts on the racing action of the last week.

The big competitions in Kilkenny, Shelbourne Park, Tralee and Cork are their focus before they hop across the water to take a look at the Irish in the opening round of the English Derby.

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FINAL CALL FOR PRODUCE STAKES ENTRIES

Peter Farrell

Owners and trainers please note that this is a final call for entries for the Carrick Aldo @ Stud National Produce Stakes.

The €20,000 to the winner Classic is scheduled to commence this Friday and there are still some spots available.

The cut-off is 10AM on Tuesday morning, so please don’t hesitate to contact the Clonmel racing office should you have a suitable entry. 

WIDE OPEN APRIL UNRACED DECIDER THE FEATURE AT ENNISCORTHY

Ian Fortune

The final of the April Unraced is the highlight of tonight’s action at Enniscorthy and destination of the €2,500 winner’s purse remains a mystery with so many of the six finals holding strong claims. Indeed, if you look at their fastest times through the competition, there is very little separating the field on the clock.

Track conditions were a little slower for last weekend’s semi-finals but Roanna Balboa managed to clock a fastest of the round 29.04. His record is a draw in the stripes. Just behind him last week was Wont Forget, a daughter of Droopys Sydney out of Oaks champion Ballymac Beanie.

The latter has plenty of age on her side as an April ’22 whelp but she was clearly held up as a youngster and has been rewarded with an ideal draw on the fence this evening. If she can match last week’s slick exit, she is again likely to make a bold bid.

The Pat Buckley trained Flashing Saffron is perhaps the most likely winner. She put an opening round defeat behind her in some style, winning her second round assignment in 28.82, while taking her semi-final in 29.17. She has terrific early speed and can rocket up the middle of the track. Her kennel companion Open Debate is also respected although she needs to find a start, while Luminous Ace and Tapa Tony are far from box fillers. The former has been running consistently well through the stake, while Tapa Tony was very impressive in the second round when leading early to score in 28.93.

It really is a tremendous contest and one with many potential outcomes, although the most likely one is a trap to line success for the promising Flashing Saffron. She is chosen to lead home Roanna Balboa and Wont Forget. 

ENGLISH DERBY – 2nd ROUND DRAW

Ian Fortune

The draw for the second round of the Star Sports/ TRC English Derby was made on Sunday afternoon and it has thrown up some notable clashes. In terms of the Irish runners, Paul Hennessy won’t be particularly happy to see a number of his remaining seven runners clashing.

He sends out three runners in Heat 3 and will be hoping they can all progress. Boylesports Blue, Hello Diego and Dynamic Force are the three in question. 

The three fastest winners of the opening round were Irish trained and remarkably, the trio have been thrown together in Heat 2. De Lahdedah, Lennies Desire and Ballinabola Joe will lock horns and there will be zero room for errors with the very capable trio of UK runner, Table Toppers, Teddie and Soul Choice, joining them.

Bockos Diamond remains the hot favourite for outright glory and has been handed a relatively kind draw in Heat 13. He will have former Derby runner-up Romeo Command to contend with but is likely to dominate from the opening yards.  

There is another notable clash in the final heat of the round with four of Ireland’s opening round winners, the Graham Holland trained duo of Faypoint Harvey and Cheap Sandwiches and the Paul Hennessy trained Jaytee Craze and Boylesports Bob, clashing.

The full draw can be found below with the Irish runners in capitals and bold.   

Friday, May 16th

Heat 1
1 Barntick Bear
2 Druids All Go
3 Never Say No
4 Sunnyside Broxi
5 Tiffield Tarquin (w)
6 Burrows Eclipse (w)

Heat 2
1 Teddie
2 DE LAHDEDAH
3 Table Toppers
4 Soul Choice
5 LENNIES DESIRE (w)
6 BALLINABOLA JOE (w)

Heat 3
1 Droopys Invent
2 Scooby The Boss
3 BOYLESPORTS BLUE
4 Thats It Jack
5 DYNAMIC FORCE (w)
6 HELLO DIEGO (w)

Heat 4
1 Salacres Senan
2 Antigua Kestrel
3 Ballybough Nutz
4 BALLYMAC PEBB
5 Slick Sentinel (w)
6 March On Freddie (w)

Heat 5
1 Droopys Bookem
2 Droopys Aladdin
3 Killieford Goram
4 Droopys Maximus
5 Flashing Fender (m)
6 Brinkleys Louis (w)

Heat 6
1 Romeo Tomcat
2 Arthur Job
3 Proper Heiress
4 Droopys Suprstar
5 Hurry Up Brendan (m)
6 BALLYMAC TIBET (w)

Heat 7
1 Betgoodwin Ed
2 Droopys Plunge
3 Heres Ringo
4 Ballymac Blaco
5 Vhagar (m)
6 Churchfield Syd (w)

Heat 8
1 FAYPOINT SUSIE
2 Fabulous Sonique
3 Dark Madam
4 Keefill Goose
5 Droopys Job (m)
6 Deliverooo (w)

 ******

Saturday, May 17th
Heat 9
1 PAIN BARRIER
2 Aero Sacundai
3 SOLE MIO
4 Wrighty
5 Slingshot Sam (m)
6 Gingers Shelby (w)

Heat 10
1 One Slick Jamie
2 Salacres Tipster
3 Teejays Chelms
4 Prince Naseem
5 Uncle Freddie (m)
6 BOMBAY PAT (w)

Heat 11
1 No Better Feelin
2 Swift Underwater
3 BAREFOOT ON FIRE
4 BUBBLY CHARGER
5 Clona Curly (m)
6 CROKERS PLANET (w)

Heat 12
1 Droopys Metaphor
2 Hopes Ompaloompa
3 Rapido Ali
4 VAL TASHADELEK
5 Indian Bonnie (m)
6 SINGALONG MOLLY (w)

Heat 13
1 Romeo Command
2 Kevins Rocket
3 Rackethall Brute
4 Ballymac Lucia
5 Nine Percent (m)
6 BOCKOS DIAMOND (w)

Heat 14
1 Savana Merapi
2 Romeo Empire
3 Droopys Trade
4 Glory Lord
5 Tricky Wiggles (m)
6 Back To Black (w)

Heat 15
1 Cooliogold
2 Droopys Heiress
3 Missile One
4 Scooby Pacemaker
5 Keefill Maverick (m)
6 Newinn Benni (w)

Heat 16
1 FAYPOINT HARVEY
2 Romeo Steel
3 JAYTEE CRAZE
4 Droopys Prefect (m)
5 CHEAP SANDWICHES (w)
6 BOYLESPORTS BOB (w) 

IRELAND’S TOWCESTER PROGRESS BY NUMBERS

Ian Fortune

Nine Irish trained dogs failed to qualify from the opening round of the Star Sports/ TRC English Greyhound Derby between Thursday, leaving 22 of the final 96 representing these shores.

There were some superb displays over the three nights of the opening round from the raiding party and below we have broken down the challenge, highlighting some of the stats from the opening round focusing on the Irish runners.

Number of Irish trained winners in opening round:

14 from a possible 22 (Ireland had runners in 22 of the 32 heats)

Number of Irish trained qualifiers:

22 (from a possible 31)

Breakdown of Irish qualifiers:

Graham Holland (7 from 9)

Bockos Diamond

Bombay Pat

Cheap Sandwiches

Crokers Planet

Faypoint Harvey

Faypoint Susie

Val Tashadelek

Paul Hennessy (7 from 7)

Boylesports Bob

Boylesports Blue

Jaytee Craze

Barefoot On Fire

Dynamic Force

Hello Diego

Lennies Desire

Liam Dowling (3 from 4)

Ballymac Pebb

Ballymac Tibet

De Lahdedah

Pat Buckley (2 from 5)

Ballinabola Joe

Singalong Molly

Brendan Matthews (2 from 2)

Bubbly Charger

Pain Barrier

Peter Cronin (1 from 2)

Sole Mio

WHERE THE IRISH FINISHED

A full breakdown of where the 31 Irish trained greyhound finished in the opening round. 

Thursday (13 runners)

Heat 1

1st Jaytee Craze

Heat 2

2nd Bubbly Charger

4th Untold Rufiyaa

Heat 3

2nd Hello Diego

4th Ballymac Sorrel

6th Ballymac Rapid

Heat 5

5th Randolph Scotts

Heat 6

1st Bockos Diamond

Heat 8

1st Ballymac Pebb

4th Swords Don

6th Riverside Pingu

Heat 9

1st Val Tashadelek

Heat 10

1st Cheap Sandwiches

Friday (8 runners)

Heat 13

1st Faypoint Susie

6th Ballinabola Jim

Heat 14

1st De Lahdedah

Heat 15

1st Faypoint Harvey

Heat 16

2nd Singalong Molly

3rd Boylesports Blue

Heat 17

1st Sole Mio

Heat 18

1st Dynamic Force

Saturday (10 runners)

Heat 23

1st Lennies Desire

Heat 25

2nd Ballymac Tibet

Heat 27

1st Bombay Pat

Heat 28

4th Clona Ice

Heat 29

1st Ballinabola Joe

2nd Barefoot On Fire

Heat 30

1st Boylesports Bob

Heat 31

3rd Crokers Planet

Heat 32

3rd Pain Barrier

4th Untold Dollar