Well after a quite sensational first night of action in the paddypower.com Irish Greyhound Derby, with College Causeway breaking Bypass Byway’s long standing track record, tonight sees the second lot of first round heats and the expectation is just as high!

From a layer’s point of view we are behind a touch, due in the main to that inspired gamble of St Louis Spirit - now a 25/1 chance in the outright betting from 66’s.

The weather is overcast, the track looks fine and another tremendous attendance is anticipating the night’s racing. Well on paper, the racing has a feel of ‘after the lord mayor’s show’ about it. I have my wife Alison in tow with me this evening – she’s come along to witness the first ever running of an American greyhound entry KIOWA MYTH in Heat 9, a strikingly white and brindle greyhound who gets top marks for presentation, and a Finnish entry EIJAS CHOICE, later known to have a pet name ‘Hugo’ in Heat 13.

Well it’s Heat 9 which gets the second night of the paddypower.com Irish Greyhound Derby heats underway. My wife asks me what are they doing as she watches concerned about the madding rush of punters catapulting themselves off the terraces into the brave souls with clipboards in hand. I say “love, something’s off”! It turns out to be a huge plunge on FANE BASHER….please take a pause before pronunciation, and 29.97 seconds later it pays off as the bookies get bashed and the 7/4 jolly powers home.

What a start for the punters! And there’s no looking back in Heat 10 when another well supported jolly, Irish St Leger winner Bar Blackstone, flashes out holding off the brave pursuers Carib King and Tip and Tin, who both look likely progressors throughout the competition.

Pat Buckley continues his good run of form in Heat 11 when his charge, Trap 6 Mecano, battles on strongly to beat the favourite Riverside King – a slight respite for the bookies. In between heats, Rab McNair tells us one or two blinding stories as he pops up to see us in the stands, a truly smashing fella and a definite ‘in’ for those ‘if you could invite four people to dinner’ scenarios! ‘Time only matters if you’ve a set of bars in front of you’ – the most memorable Sky Sports Dogs quote ever as we discuss certain performances of the round to date.

More respite for the bookies as Heat 12 goes to Tyrur Mikiemac in a scrappy race, with the favourite, Oan Legend, taking a tumble but hopefully none the worse for it. Then its Heat 13 and the wife has her eyes firmly set on the Finnish challenger, Trap 2 Eijas Choice (or Hugo to his friends) as he parades around the centre green like a puppy, pulling at the lead, tail wagging furiously. What can we expect from the 1000/1 chance? Well, in the immortal words of the legendary and sprightly 85 year old Don Cuddy, who’s sat by us in the stands, ‘If he qualifies I’ll jump up in the air and I’ll never come down’. Don was still sat beside us minutes later as Hugo unfortunately bows out behind the impressive favourite and strong Derby fancy Faypoint Man (now a 12/1 chance for outright honours). The winning time was a fastest of the night at 29.53, beating Royal Tornado, who ran alright and could turn out to be a live outsider @ 33/1.

UK challenger Ballymac Ruso, the 5/2 favourite in Heat 14 has to play second fiddle by 3/4l to Broadacres Turbo, but to quote Matt Dartnall after the race, ‘Job Done!’. I suppose he’s right but the winner’s time of 29.96 was a little pedestrian for my liking. The ever durable and versatile outsider Cashen Zig comes out on elastic to take Heat 15 in 29.77, a very decent run, and Heat 16 goes the way of Marie Gilbert’s Airport Pilot, picking up the long time leader and well supported Contador, then holding off the late charge of Minnies Oscar in another moderate time of 30.12. The winner has a certain ‘can go faster’ clause by his name, so don’t be deceived by the clock.

So it’s onto the lucky last heat of the night and then on to my regular interview slot with Michael Fortune after racing. Heat 17, like the first heat of the evening, has a right gamble going on in the form of Pat Buckley’s Droopys Noel, sent off the even money favourite. He holds every chance but can never quite get to grips with the highly promising Paul Hennessy winner, Tyrur Usain. He looks progressive enough, and in only his seventh race he could easily be warming to rigours of racing. A quick mention of the third, Forest Boss, who caught my eye just like in those Racing Manager days – wins next time out!

Off upstairs we go to have a chat with Michael and it’s off home, the wife with eyes held open by matchsticks passing her 10.30pm bedtime call. Another decent night’s fayre and now on to Saturday’s card with the likes of pre ante post favourite Shaneboy Lee, Draper trained Thurlesbeg Joker and pup sensation Scolari Me Daddy – it’s all good in our greyhound world!

Stevie G signing off – Good Luck!

This entry was posted on 11:43am Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 11:43 am and is filed under Greyhounds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. By commenting on this site you agree to abide by our terms and conditions.

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