Roddick & Rory Go Toe-To-Toe

As with most years in the Irish Greyhound Derby, we took a bit of a battering over the opening two nights!

We couldn’t stay licking our wounds for too long however as we had to get cracking on the sixteen second round heats first thing on Monday morning!

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The Derby was dealt a huge blow on Monday morning when official word filtered through about the withdrawal of the short priced ante-post favourite Clares Rocket.

The call came around midday.

As a good will gesture BoyleSports have decided to refund bets placed on the Rocket since 9am on Monday the 8th of August.

Having a quick look back on the opening round the fastest heat winner was the queen of the circuit Ballydoyle Honey. From trap rise it was race over as she found herself in a beautiful position around the opening two turns.

Burgess Popeye toed her along down the far side but approaching the third bend the Honey kicked into overdrive and made bits of her opposition in a slick 29.49. Graham Holland had no less than six heat winners over the two sessions. Last year’s St Leger winner Skywalker Rory was a very impressive winner of his opening heat.

He was subject of a massive cut in the outright betting after his impressive run. New ante-post jolly Droopys Roddick burst into action in Heat 14 last Saturday night as he led all to stop the clock in 29.62. This lad is a real competition dog so we will be keeping on the right side of him for the remainder of the classic.

Defending Champ
On Thursday night Sober Call had the bragging rights as he posted the fastest time during the opening session 29.61.

Sober was friendless in the market on the day of the race and he returned at a massive 7/2 for a dog of his calibre. He posted a very quick 3.38 sectional from trap five which made his connections change him from an inside to a middle seed.

Defending champion Ballymac Matt got the defence of his title off to a winning start as he out-battled young pretender Priceless Brandy in heat 7.

Matt had to bring his A game to the table to get the better of Brandy up the home straight. I would discount the time (30.02) here as there was a fair bit of bumping down the far side.

Droopys Smasher surprised everyone in heat 8 as she led to the corner from trap one! I have no doubt that this lady will stay six bends at her ease, so when she showed in front off the second bend it was a case of how far. 29.68 was the winning time here.

My own personal fancy Laughil Duke won the final heat on Thursday night and at a very short price 1/3, but it wasn’t in a style of a dog so short. Swords Ace showed his usual turn of early pace and ran a game race up front. Duke had to pull out all the stops to just get his neck in front at the line.

Second Round
Looking ahead to the second heats Laughil Duke is the first of the big guns into action in heat 1. He will go to traps a short priced favourite but should oblige.

Shutthebackdoor can give him most to think about. Graham Holland can have a double on Thursday night with Rural Hawaii and Ballydoyle Honey. These will be very short but will be a popular double.

The big clash of the second round will come in the very last heat on Saturday night when Droopys Roddick and Skywalker Rory will go toe to toe. We make Roddick slightly odds-on because he has the inside line. It has the makings of a classic.

There are a number of specials built around the Derby including winning trainer, track record to be broke, bitch to win the derby, winner to go unbeaten and winning seed. These can all be viewed online along with the heat prices on www.Boylesports.com

Ding Ding round two!