Mucky Set To Clean Up His Act

The second batch of eight heats kick-off on Saturday evening at Shelbourne Park in the second round of the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby.

Ballymac Cooper is the shortest priced favourite at 1/2 with Grangeview Ten 4/6 and Run Happy 8/11 from 4/5.

Mucky Set to Clean Up.
To kick off the heats Mucky Brae is the 11/8 favourite in heat nine for Michael J O’Donovan. This dog was 7/4 last week but failed to oblige for his punters after Ballymac Trinkle skipped around in 29.75. Mucky can clean up his act here and with 28.09 around this circuit for the 525 yards trip, the 11/8 looks good value.

He showed nice pace last week in the opening round and is trained by one of the country’s best. Jaytee Storm could set the pace here and also has done 29.64 for this trip earlier in the month so it would be unwise to rule her out at 3/1.

Peter Cronin 1-2.
Worseforwear was very good last week when he posted a 29.59 victory with 3.39 and 17.26 sectionals. With just eleven races on his card, he has won six of them and could land Peter Cronin his first BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby win with 20/1 available on Cronin to train this year’s champion.

Worseforwear is 50/1 in the outright betting but is just 15/8 to land heat 10 on Saturday from trap five. He was well supported in the opening round when backed into 6/4 but Sophies Man in trap two, who is another heat winner, could match his early boot with 5/2 available on his kennel companion.

Graham Holland trains three runners here; Newinn Hero in trap three, Ballydoyle Valor in trap four and Totos Park in trap five but it’s looks like it could be a Cronin 1-2.

A Magical Heat
Heat 11 is the best heat over the two nights of action at Shelbourne Park with the heat winners Magical Bale (9/4) in trap four, Killmacdonagh (6/4) in two and Lenson Bocko (2/1) in six. There are five heat winners altogether in this race with Manuka Man in trap three and Vic Vega in five.

What a race this is going to be and although Magical Bale is too far out in trap four, he has the ability to lead here with his brilliant early. Patrick Guilfoyle bred this champ and has done a fantastic job with him along with Kevin Hutton, to make two derby finals. He was runner-up in this derby last year and the English derby a few months back.

He has style, experience and the talent to land this race but it won’t be easy as Killmacdonagh and Lenson Bocko also have cracking pace.

Patrick Guilfoyle’s Rising Star
Heat 12 is all about 4/6 shot Grangeview Ten who is also trained by Patrick Guilfoyle. He did 3.34 and 17.04 sectionals last week, the fastest of the derby so far. He will be hard to beat in this four-dog race as trap one Choctaw Fantasy and Catunda Logan in trap three are non-runners.

Heat winners Scooby Doo It (11/4) and Monbeg Bakayoko (10/3) have to improve and lead if they are going to deny Produce Stakes champ Grangeview Ten who is 20/1 from 25/1 in the outright betting.

Keep on Running, Happy
Run Happy looks well drawn in heat 13 for Pat Buckley and at odds of 8/11 he will be hard to beat. BoyleSports cut him from 4/5 and trimmed him into 16/1 from 20/1 in the ante post book following his wonderful win of 29.50 last week. Lebudgiesmuggler was lucky to qualify as a fastest fourth.

He might not stay the best, but he flies from traps and could race Run Happy up to the first turn. However, Run Happy has a 17.13 sectional and realistically should pull clear of his rivals.

Dowling’s Top Kennel
Ballymac Anton has had problems in the past and Liam Dowling has finally got him right with the patience paying off last weekend after a 29.37 win. That was the second fastest time recorded in this year’s derby behind Wolfe’s 29.22. Anton is 11/8 to win heat 14 and looks a progressive type who stays the trip too.

Laughil Josh (7/2) in trap three and the mighty Jaytee Taylor (7/4) in trap six are massive dangers. You can never dismiss Taylor who will be picking up his rivals one by one from the back straight home. He caught 2018 BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby champion Ballyanne Sim in 29.72 last week so he can easily pick up whoever leads here too.

Cooper to Bounce Back
Ballymac Cooper is on a mission to win his seventh race from eleven starts in heat 15 from trap six. He is another star from Liam Dowling’s epic kennel and is just 1/2 to win from Music Toour Ears (4/1) in trap one and heat winner Jirano Classic (7/2) in trap two.

It’s a five-dog race with Ravenswood Hugo vacant from trap three. Ballymac Cooper should land the spoils here after finishing second last week when he was 4/7 favourite. He has an enormous amount of pace and is 14/1 to win the competition.

Jet to Rocket Home
Ballyhimikin Jet is 5/4 to win heat 16 for Graham Holland. This flying machine is in plenty of people’s notebooks as he possesses a lot of speed. He stumbled at the traps last week in a race won by Lenson Bocko but he ran on well for second.

Droopys Hunch (9/4) in trap six has to be feared as she won well in 29.51 and is perfectly drawn here but it’s all about Jet in trap five.