Getting Back On Track

With no action on the coursing field this weekend we can switch our attention to the track, where we have a number of stakes priced up.

The Juvenile Classic kicked off last Friday night in Tralee, it’s the richest unraced stake in the country and attracts all the leading owners and trainers from every corner of Ireland. This year is no different!

The fastest first round heat winner Sidarian Vega (7/2) is our current market leader. This son of Westmead Hawk is trained in Golden Co Tipperary by Graham Holland, who won this competition last year with Vans Viking.

Vega showed a nice turn of early pace after a sectional of 3.07 and ran on strongly to win his heat by eight and a half lengths in the best of the night 28.41, and his style of running really seems to suit this Kingdom venue.

The sixth heat winner Farloe Rumble (4/1) wasn’t too far behind him on the clock 28.45, he showed a real change of gear between bends one and two to pass out the well fancied Knight Invader (10/1) and take up the running down the back straight from here it was all one way traffic as he raced clear to win by five lengths. Owner/trainer combination of Paul Ellis and Owen McKenna teamed up to take this prestigious stake in 2013 with Farloe Calvin. Rumble was the second part of a McKenna double after he produced Go Django (6/1) to take heat three with a very polished performance in 28.51. He is a son of 2011 national sprint winner Shoemakers Lad and Faithful Laura and is owned by the very colourful O’Donnells-and-MMM-syndicate, who I believe made the long journey down to Kerry to see their future star in action.

Aguasantas (16/1) provided local trainer Liam Dowling with his first round winner, he showed all his local knowledge to score comfortably in 28.76 and there could be more to come from this son of Ballymac Vic. Hovex Prince (10/1) gave Graham Holland the second part of his opening round double in 29.08, while other heat winners include Fire Height Tosh (16/1), who really had to battle to win his heat in 28.73, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he shaved a few spots off this clock with a clear run. Lenson Walcott (9/1) won his heat for trainer Pat Buckley in 28.89 and ran a little green but still won comfortably.

Knight Invader (10/1) finished second to the ultra-impressive Farloe Rumble and could represent value in this stake yet. He is held in high regard by connections and I doubt they are making the long journey from their Navan base just for the scenery around Tralee!

At the other side of the Irish Sea we have betting on the Golden Jacket which is at its semi-final stage in Crayford. There is a very short priced favourite for this competition in the shape of the Hayley Keightly trained Roxholme Dream (5/4). This lady was recently crowned both stayer and bitch of the year in the UK and made a winning return to action to 2015 with a breath taking display on Saturday evening. She has it in every department; she starts, is a great bend runner and she sees out the trip with ease.

She will be hard to beat in this competition and will go off a short priced favourite for her semi-final on Thursday evening, which can be seen live on sky channel 212 and in all of our shops. Her main rivals for outright honours include Wimbledon track record holder Racenight Jenny (5/1), the Dean Childs-trained Droopys Bear (7/1), Chaotic Dotty (12/1) and the out and out stayer King Kane(14/1). This Diane Henry-trained runner will be hard to keep out of the final and represents good each-way value.

The final of the Henlow Gold Cup is also on this Sunday evening and Blonde Razor (5/4) heads the betting after his impressive semi-final win for the champion trainer Mark Wallis whose kennel is in terrific form so far this year.

Check out our prices for all the top competitions taking place at the moment on the tracks in both Ireland and the UK. Prices are also available for both the English Greyhound Derby and our very own BoyleSports Irish Derby. These will be updated each week accordingly so keep an eye out for all the big name runners returning into action in the coming weeks!

The countdown is also on for the last bit of action on the coursing field, The Irish Cup, and we will have this priced up as soon as we know the draw, but you can be sure that Needham Danger, Needham Work, Fingal Master and some of the leading pups from Clonmel will be at the head of the market!