Musical Dawn top of the class
THE Lee Strand A3 550 Sweepstake, which offers a winner’s purse of €8,000, got off to a very lively start at Tralee Track last Friday night.
The attendance was quite exceptional, with the restaurant area particularly busy with families celebrating the confirmation of their children, and a 12-race programme kept everybody well entertained, though it was not a good night to have technical problems with the tote.
The Lee Strand sweepstake will continue for the next few weeks and final night is always very special, with the Tralee company going to no end of trouble to look after the people associated with it.
It had been hoped to pull in 96 entries, but those kind of numbers, apparently, aren’t out there any more and, disappointingly enough, the two trainers who have been lighting up the Oakview venue in latter years, Graham Holland and Owen McKenna, didn’t have a single entry.
However, the entry was large enough to require ten first-round heats and, while it’s hard to draw conclusions after just one round, the general view last Friday night was that this is probably the most open Lee Strand sweepstake of them all.
Just one of the 59 greyhounds in action (there was one five-greyhound race) managed to better 30.00secs and, of course, that puts the greyhound in question, Musical Dawn, right up there at the top of the class.
On going rated .10 slow, she won heat 7 in an impressive 29.90 – which equates to 28.40 for 525yds.
Musical Dawn is owned by Larry Enright, of Knocklong, Co Limerick, and she motored really well to the first bend from a trap 2 draw to get herself into a winning position.
She was most definitely not for catching after that and she finished five lengths ahead of Adraville Scart, which ran on well to claim the runner-up spot half a length ahead of Ballymac Ink.
The next best time was 30.12, which was produced in heat 4 by the Sean Dowling-trained Sarista. Running from trap 4, Sarista led off the first bend from even-money favourite, Droopys Hip Hop, and she kept a very good gallop going to see off the challenge of the favourite by a length.
Droopys Hip Hop is trained by another of the country’s big hitters, Pat Buckley, who saw his 4/6 hotpot, Droopys Galliano, unluckily knocked over at the first bend in the previous heat.
Maybe Droopys Hip Hop will become a stronger factor as the sweepstake progresses, but, based on last Friday night, the odds are against it.
Sarista was actually one of six bitches to win a first-round heat and, along with Musical Dawn and the third fastest heat winner Dromscarra Ruby (30.16), they offer a mighty female challenge.
The other bitches to win were Kenmare Sherry (30.28), Happy Endings (30.31) and Lybes Legend (30.34) and it will be very, very interesting to see how they all get on in round 2 this Friday night.
The remaining heat winners were Whiteys Scarface (30.34), Ballymac Victor (30.48), Callaway Woods (30.29) and Rockmount Joyce (30.78).
On the face of it, Rockmount Joyce would have to be seen as a no-hoper because his time was so far back on that of all the others, but he is very far from that. Neilus O’Connell’s dog broke a very bad last of the field, kept getting into trouble and he did really well to swoop late and win by three-quarters of a length from Groovy Luke.
For sure, he’ll be doing a lot better than 30.78 this Friday night.
Interestingly, just eleven of the 59 greyhounds in action last Friday night were eliminated, with the first four in each heat going through as well as the eight fastest fifths. The cull this Friday night will be the usual one -- 50 per cent – and it will be very interesting to see how last Friday night’s time will compare.
Also on last Friday’s card were two semi-finals of an A6 525 sweepstake, which is acting as a fund-raiser for the Kerry Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Soccer League and the one to beat in the final this Friday night is another Neilus O’Connell runner, Sams Rumble, which won the first semi-final in 29.08.
Mind you, Sams Rumble got home by only half a length from Quivers Brook, which was three lengths behind him rounding the third bend.
The second semi-final was won in 29.24 by Algebra and, again, it was tight here, with Algebra winning an exciting finish by a neck from Coolavanny Rolls. The latter was a very hot favourite at 4/6 and, coming from the Pat Buckley kennels, he could well be going off favourite again this Friday night.
Sams Rumble, though, is the choice.