At Shelbourne Park on Saturday night there were plenty of clues on show ahead of the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby later this month.
The Michael J O’Donovan trained Stonepark Hoffa justified his short odds of 4/5 to win the €10,000 Paddy Merriman Memorial A1 525 Final in a time of 28.59. This son of Droopys Sydney – Coolavanny Ella just managed to hold on by a short head to the Michael Taggart trained Coolavanny Brave with Meenagh Monito another length back in third for trainer Michael Corr.
The €5,000 Yvonne Barry Open 600 Final also featured on the card with Ballinabola Jim obliging for trainer Brendan P Murphy. This powerful son of Good News – Ballinabola Rum was another winning favourite at 4/6 and he showed his class to win in 32.40. It was a great performance.
The semi-finals of the TIME Greyhound Nutrition AAO 550 took place with Graham Holland responsible for both heat winners. Cheap Sandwiches won his heat in a fast 29.34 for the Bark-Wahlberg syndicate while Bockos Diamond battled hard with the Jennifer O’Donnell trained Seven Beach to win by a head in 29.48. It’s a cracking final to look forward to (trap draw below).
We also have the Shelbourne Maiden Derby AAO 550 Final taking place on Saturday night with the Graham Holland trained Bombay Pat the fastest of the heat winners. This young son of Pestana – Clear Mountain won in 29.21 as the 4/9 favourite with Born To Perform five lengths back in second place. It was an excellent performance and a dog to add to the notebook with just 14/1 available on him in the outright to win the Irish Derby. Tarsna Maasai and Cazador were the other heat winners.
TIME Greyhound Nutrition Open 550
€3,500 Final draw
1 DARK DILEMMA
2 BOCKOS DIAMOND (M)
3 SEVEN BEACH (M)
4 SHORT GRIP (M)
5 ANNAGH BAILEY (W)
6 CHEAP SANDWICHES (W)
Shelbourne Maiden Derby
€7,500 Final draw
1 OMEY MIST
2 CAZADOR
3 BORN TO PERFORM
4 BOMBAY PAT (M)
5 COOSANE PICKLES (W)
6 TARSNA MAASAI (W)
Sarah Kinsella, spokesperson for Greyhound Racing Ireland, said: “It was another busy night at Shelbourne Park with brilliant performances from our final winners Stonepark Hoffa and Ballinabola Jim. We have the Maiden Derby final along with the TIME 550 final this Saturday so it’s another fantastic night to look forward to in our newly refurbished stadium.”
