With every passing day, the Irish greyhound racing calendar is picking up momentum. The Gold Cup is now behind us but the Easter Cup is on the horizon and Saturday’s action at Shelbourne Park reflects this with a few of the very fastest greyhounds on the planet returning to action.
Meanwhile, Tralee will provide the perfect springboard to future stardom for six hugely promising youngsters this evening with the final of the Juvenile Classic set to be televised live from the Kingdom Stadium.
Up the road at Newbridge, a number of brilliant young bitches will have their second career start in the Brownstown Tango & NTSC Open Bitch Unraced 525. On top of all that, the opening round of the Time Greyhound Nutrition Irish Cesarewitch will dominate Sunday’s action at Mullingar.
Juvenile Classic Final
The final of the Juvenile Classic is the feature, however. The famous competition has been won by some real stars in recent years and tonight’s contest is bursting with quality. The market suggests Coolavanny Otto and Ballymac Patriot will battle out the finish but none of the remaining quartet can be dismissed with each expected to progress further.
Coolavanny Otto has the best of the draw on the fence. Under the care of Pat Buckley, the powerful son of Droopys Sydney has looked sensational in previous outings, including his semi-final defeat when finishing like a train after early traffic. He has been rewarded for that effort with an ideal draw on the fence and will be very difficult to stop if starting on terms. Containing Ballymac Patriot into the bend could be the key to success for Coolavanny Otto.
Ballymac Patriot lines out in three for Liam Dowling and is another that looks the real deal. If he were to slip around in front of Coolavanny Otto, he would be the one to beat. Kerogue Lady is also worthy of a mention. She has terrific early speed and is the most likely pace-setter but would be very vulnerable if either of the big two slipped around behind her.
The final at Tralee is backed up by some superb open class racing and it can all be viewed live on GTV, channel 427 on the sky platform, from 7pm.
Brownstown Tango & NTSC Open Unraced Bitch 525
Crafty Bondi and Fairy Footsteps are the two to watch out for at Newbridge in the Brownstown Tango & NTSC Open Unraced Bitch 525. The former was nothing short of awesome on debut, showing immense promise in a 28.34 success in Monday’s opening round.
Hailing from the same kennel that produced Derby third and Corn Cuchulainn champion Crafty Kokoro, Crafty Bondi looks very special indeed and she is chosen to follow up. Fairy Footsteps wasn’t far behind her on the opening round clocks and she took looks set for a big future. She can also oblige in her respective heat.
Irish Cesarewitch
The format for this year’s Irish Cesarewitch is very different to previous years. Now sponsored by TIME Greyhound Nutrition, the midlands classic features some very talented trackers, most notably four or five of the fastest bitches in training including last year’s champion Bobsleigh Dream.
Run over two weekends, only the winners of the six opening round heats will progress to the final on St Patrick’s Day. It adds real jeopardy to the opening round, leaving no room for error, but it’s certainly worth a crack given there is €10,000 on offer to the winner. That’s a fine sum of money for just over a minute’s work.
It goes without saying that Bobsleigh Dream is amongst the very fastest in training but the same can certainly be said for the likes of Glengar Martha, Singalong Dolly, Fashion Model and Ballinabola Una.
You can view the opening round action and the final of the Midlands Derby from Mullingar on GTV on Sunday afternoon.
