Great Name That Takes Over As Easter Cup Favourite

The 2021 Easter Cup at Shelbourne Park got off to an epic start on Saturday night with the Liam Dowling trained Great Name That the new stand-alone favourite after performing the fastest time of the competition so far.

This talented son of Droopys Jet – Ballymac Bonnie didn’t have things his own way as it was recent Gold Cup finalist Minglers Popeye who set the pace after a flying start with Great Name That positioning himself into a lovely spot in second.

As soon as they hit the back straight, Great Name That began to open up and devoured the sand beneath his paws to take up the lead at the third bend.

From this point it was all over and he skipped home in 29.53 to win by 3½ lengths to Minglers Popeye in second with last week’s Curraheen Park Open 575 final winner Beach Avenue running a big race to grab third.

Following his winning display, Great Name That is now the 5/1 favourite from 8/1

…and the icing on the cake for this pacey talent is he displayed the fastest sectional to the third bend in 17.24 which is a huge effort from the 2020 Kingdom Derby runner-up. Minglers Popeye is 33/1 from 50/1.

The second fastest greyhound to the third bend was Auxerre who has been running out of his skin lately.

He notched up another win at HQ in 29.56 with a sectional to the third turn in 17.25. Auxerre is only three seconds behind the market leader on the clock but is rated as a 25/1 shot from 50/1 on Monday morning for trainer Oliver Shields.

Liam Dowling had a really good start to the Easter Cup with Ballymac Ariel showing the boys how it’s done. This sensational lady is 7/1 from 12/1 to claim the €25,000 prize after her terrific winning performance in 30.06 to come from behind and chase down Newinn Sheedy (33/1).

Another lady that impressed was Billys Diva who obliged in 29.93 after she dug in deep to get up on the line and snatch victory from the pace setter Hello Mikey.

Billys Diva is 10/1 from 14/1 but it’s worth mentioning Hello Mikey who was hammered into 66/1 from 150/1 after some speculative bets were placed on him prior to his race. But after his performance on Saturday, he is only 33/1 now for trainer Gary Silcock from Northern Ireland.

Heat winner Newinn Session remains 8/1 while his kennel buddy Native Maestro is 8/1 from 10/1 after his eye-catching victory in 29.85 beating the fast Ballymac Wild (10/1). Kingdom Derby winner and recent Gold Cup finalist Knocknaboul Syd is 8/1 from 16/1 for trainer Pat Buckley after his dominant win in 29.64.

*Prices correct at time of publication