All Roads Lead To Shelbourne Park as greyhound season heats up

Excitement building for 2024 BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby.

By: irishmirror.ie

Oct 11 2024
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All Roads Lead To Shelbourne P

The excitement is building for the 2024 BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby with the highly anticipated event kicking off next Friday October 18^th.

This year’s competition will be extra special because of the newly refurbished Shelbourne Park so make sure you pop in for a visit. We race every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tonight’s card at the Dublin venue has eleven races to offer with excellent prize money. The AAO Bitch 525/550 Final worth €3,500 is the highlight with six excellent ladies lining up. The two heat winners of the semi-finals were tipped in this column. Ballymac Wendy obliged at 5/1 for trainer Liam Dowling after coming from behind to pick up the leader Deelish Nora in 28.58 along with Bockos Crystal, who she caught on the line.

Trap one will suit Wendy but must get a little sharper at the traps if she is going to win. The 2023 Irish Derby runner-up Bockos Crystal was just three quarters of a length behind her. Dowling also has Ballymac Danica racing from trap three. She needed that run last week so watch this space as she is one of the fastest ladies in the country (25/1 outright to win the Irish Derby.)

It was an incredible run in defeat so I’m edging towards her. The other heat winner was Mustang Fever at 3/1 for trainer Patrick Guilfoyle. This daughter of Droopys Sydney – Mustang Kay Cee clocked a fast time of 28.22 for owners Sean Bourke and Paul Horig.

She done well to chase down Danica so she must be taken seriously here. Undulation in trap six was another who needed the race after returning from a lay-off for trainer Brendan Matthews. Hopefully all finalists will be entered into the Irish Derby. The supporting card includes the likes of De Lahdedah, Ballymac Finn, Rambling Boy ad Daleroad Duke so you don't want to miss it.

TIME Greyhound Nutrition have been wonderful sponsors to be involved with and tonight at Shelbourne Park they sponsor a few races to build awareness of their new TIME Club. The team came up with the idea with a view to boosting breeding, while also aiding those looking after retired greyhounds after their racing career. The benefits of the club include a free bag of Time Greyhound Feed when you sign up, a free bag when you breed a litter and another when you get your racer rehomed after their racing career is over. A fantastic initiative.

The 2024 €10,000 Fonez Galway Oaks kicks off at the western track tonight with four heats. It’s great to see an exciting entry with Epic Chick a stand-out runner for John Kennedy. This lady reached the Con & Annie Kirby Memorial final at Limerick back in April and was last seen racing in the semi-finals of the Irish Oaks in June. This is her first time to race at Galway. There will be plenty of support for the local runner Annie On Faya who is owned by Cian Mulrooney in Salthill and trained by Murt Leahy. She is a talented lady who will be hard to beat if she hits the front.

We have the second round of the €5,000 Droopys Stud Fair Warrior 400 at Mullingar on Sunday with Glendale Zozo the talk of the track after his performance in the opening round. This son of Broadstrand Bono – Velvet Lilly May was superb when knocking three spots of the track record clocking 21.03 (track then marked .20 spots slow).

It was just his sixth career start so it’s easy to get excited about him as I’m sure his owners Alan and Martin Conway are. This is a tough heat. Feshtys Mo and Zippy Canning are capable of fast starts while Born Racer and Pavilion Gold will be strong at the finish. It has a bit of everything but it’s Zozo for me in heat 3.

The defending champion Pavilion Fire looks the one in heat 4 for trainer Aidan McVeigh. Road Exile will be hard to beat in heat 2 for trainer Pat Buckley. This Kingdom Derby champion clocked 21.14 (20.94) after a blistering 6.87 sectional so he is hard to oppose in heat 2. I like Satelite Monroe in heat 1 for Shane Murphy, a heat winner.

ShelbournePark

Race 1 – Trap 1 Ballymac Finn

Race 2 – Trap 6 Farney Chime

Race 4 – Trap 4 Fairy Footsteps

Race 5 – Trap 2 Evolution

Race 6 – Trap 3 Ballymac Danica

Race 7 – Trap 1 Rambling Boy

Race 8 – Trap 4 De Lahdedah

Galway

Race 6 – Trap 6 Now Were Talkin

Race 7 – Trap 2 Annie On Faya

Race 8 – Trap 2 Headinthewindow