HITTING SHELBOURNE FOR TAKE 3 OF THE DERBY: Thursday night in headquarters got off to a wonderful start as I was invited to attend the ‘Night of Stars’ reception evening. There is great excitement surrounding this highly competitive night and it has become one of, if not the best nights of greyhound racing on the Irish calendar. Each winner receives €10,000 for just one race and all the top dogs and bitches in the country and across the sea take part. Phil Meaney is the founder of this superb event and he was there along with plenty of the board members. Speaking of board members, Theresa Wall and I got talking before the first race about her pub she runs called The Priory and apparently her other half Michael pulls the best pint of Guinness in the emerald isle!
After hearing this I proceeded to tell my Dad who never ceases to amaze me with his stories but it turns out that when we won the Langton House Derby in Kilkenny back in 2002 with Brewers Turn what pub did we end up in on the way home only The Priory, obviously I cannot remember this as I probably had to stay in the car with the dog! So to back your statement up Theresa, Dad has to agree with you that Michael really does pull the best pint!
I met some of the sponsors for the Night of Stars, Tom and Una Creed, lovely people who also sponsor the Produce Stakes. Ted Hegarty and Pat Curtin were also there and they are both sponsoring a race each. What great ambassadors for the sport these people are who consistently pump their own money into these marvellous race nights, without these people we wouldn’t be able to host such an event so please make sure you mark your diary with the 14th November and get yourself and your friends down to the home of greyhound racing and why not buy a ticket for €100 and get a meal and a table for the evening. It will be worth it!
Sugar, sugar, honey, honey
You are my candy girl
And you got me wanting you
Honey, honey, sugar, sugar
I am your candy girl
And you got me wanting you
I bet you will be all be singing that now for the rest of the day, I know I am! I love watching Ballydoyle Honey race, she is a breath of fresh air, maybe its a female thing but I light up when I know her race is approaching. She didn’t disappoint either and again made up ground to pass Rural Hawaii on the home straight after he forced her wide and she finished second to her litter sister and shock winner Samiya in 29.51! What a savage litter this is, really exceptional. Farloe Blitz won again but his split wasn’t as fast this week, however he still won in 29.60 but tied up again coming home and only won by two lengths to Priceless Lassie after he was about five lengths clear down the back straight, Lassie ran a super race in second, she is one to watch.
Other stand out performances for me were Fair Taxes for Charlie McCreevy’s wife Noeleen. He ran a very flashy race in 29.50 from trap six. I also like the look of Peregrine Falcon who ran on strong after a messy first bend when we lost the fast Riverside Pat who got turned over. Peregrine Falcon is owned by Paddy O’Brien who married Ollie Bray’s Niece Ciara. Paddy married into greyhounds and what a great start to their newly wed lives to have a dog in the third round of the Derby. This is a dog that I think will keep creeping through and qualifying. Ollie himself also had a winner with Dark Intentions who is a litter brother to the superb Comerford Cakes National Puppy final winner Bubbly Zues who Ollie sold to the champagne club syndicate some time ago. So there are lots of exciting prospects to watch out for which makes this Derby even more dramatic and appealing!
My picks for tonight are Jaytee Jet, Paradise Maverick, Highview Apollo, Urban Gossip, Amazing Dude and the one and only Ballymac Matt!
See you all in there tonight.
Sarah
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