Punters Get Redemption In Round 3

The punters came out fighting in the third round of the Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby and it was rewarded as four of the eight heats were won by favourites.

There were still a couple of shocks as we saw the end of Droopys Nidge, Vanfrankie and Holdem Spy’s Derby campaign. It was the first time we were able to see all the runners competing on the one card and the most impressive run’s of the night came from Paradise Maverik, Laughil Blake and Mind the Net.

Punters may have feared the worst that the poor run of favourites so far in this year’s event was going to continue after the opening heat as, El Flutter(5/1) went on to upset the well backed favourite Skywalker Farloe who went off at 5/4.

Farloe had not been at his best thus far but, he was still strongly fancied for this heat but, after taking an early bump he struggled to get back on terms and he had to settle for second. He is now available at 10/1 to win this year’s competition and the heat winner El Flutter is still available at a big 40/1.

Punters continued to struggle in the second heat as favourites continued to struggle as Droopys Nidge bowed out of the competition. Nidge was one of the Ante-Post favourites and he went to traps the 2/1 favourite for the second heat but, again he appeared to be below his own level of ability.

Paradise Maverik appeared to have a tricky draw but, yet again he flew from the boxes and that left him in an ideal position going down the back, he went onto win in the joint fastest time of the night 29:43 and is still available at 14/1 in the outright market.

Laughil Blake was a saving grace for favourite backers as he won at 6/4 and he started a promising run of favourites through the remaining of the card. Blake is now the joint-favourite to win the Derby at 5/1 and Blake has now recorded the fastest round winning time for the second time in just three rounds. Blake made all in convincing fashion to win his heat by no fewer than eight lengths over Vulturi who has also shortened to 10/1 to win the Derby.

Jaytee Osprey was also a popular winner as she was one of the best backed runners of the entire round and she did not let them down. Osprey lost her maiden tag in this year’s competition and she had to do it the hard way after she encountered trouble at the opening bend, she had to battle back for the win. She can still be backed at 33/1 to win the classic and she is also now just 2/7 for top bitch with the only other bitch Kilinan Baby available at 5/2.

The second half of the heats began with a win for the bookies as Kisses for Cloda went on to win the 5th heat at 4/1, with the jolly Vanfrankie 2/1 encountering traffic problems and consequently going out. Cloda’s injury record has been well documented and yet again he defied the odds as he secured victory from a tricky trap draw, there were six inside seeds and Cloda was in five with the tight railer Tyrur Sugar Ray in six.

Cloda did manage to time his start perfectly and he never looked like surrendering his advantage as he saw off Tyrur Sugar Ray in impressive fashion by four and a half lengths. He is now 20/1 for outright honours with Sugar Ray priced at 14/1.

Heat six was just a five runner affair but, in the betting ring there was much divided opinion as there was only a quarter of a point between the top four in the betting. Ballyana Foxtrot who posted the fastest time in the last round followed up with another impressive victory at 9/4, he held on to secure victory from the fast finishing pair of Barefoot Agent and Deanridge Pennys in 29:56.

Foxtrot has ran extremely well throughout the event and he is still available at 16/1 to anyone who fancies him to go on to win the Derby.

There was a huge cheer in the penultimate heat of the night as the seasoned campaigner Ballymac Vic obliged for yet another win on the night for punters. Vic went off the 5/4 favourite and after a matter of strides, the punters were cheering from the terraces. Vic has been very impressive in his last two runs which have seemingly quashed any ideas that he was too old to be a major player this year and he is now as short as 10/1 to win the event.

There was a bit of a shock in this heat as we saw the elimination of one of the more fancied runners, Holdem Spy who after plenty of trouble at the opening bend, he struggled to land a blow. It got even better for punters in the last as Mind the Net added to the bookies woe’s as he went on to win at 1/2.

He went into the third round the Ante-Post favourite and following his win in 29:54, he remains at the top of the market at 5/1. The English Derby finalist has shown a lot more early than he had in his previous starts and if he continues to break as smartly as he has been doing, he will take a lot of beating.

See you next Saturday!!