Insidelane
TIPPERARY trainer, Owen McKenna, has something of a magic touch at Tralee Track, like his late father, Ger, before him.
He trod the glory trail yet again at the Oakview venue on the Friday night before Christmas when winning the €6,500-to-thewinner T Nolan CVRT Test Centre Kingdom Derby with Holycross Lad, owned by Alan Williams, of Thurles, whose wife, Sally, enjoyed enormous success herself at Tralee as a licensed trainer when based in Templeglantine, Co Limerick.
The field in the final of the Kingdom Derby was reduced to five with the withdrawal of Right Half Back on veterinary advice and, as expected, the Pat Buckley-trained Coolavanny Mason was sent off favourite from a trap 1 draw, at 5/4.
Holycross Lad, which was fortunate enough to get through in the second round after finishing fourth, was a 5/2 shot and he brought his recognised early pace into play from trap 5 to lead around the opening bend from Ballymac Coyote, Coolavanny Mason, Floury Spuds and Paradise Summer.
He ran the back straight strongly enough to be a length and a half ahead of Ballymac Coyote rounding the third bend, with two lengths back to Coolavanny Mason, and he wound up winning the charge to the line by half a length from Coolavanny Mason in 28.59 (.10 slow), with a length back to Ballymac Coyote.
Liam Dowling’s Ballymac Coyote actually looked like winning after turning for home, but he moved quite close to Holycross Lad on his inner and this certainly didn’t help him.
Owen McKenna admitted afterwards that he thought Holycross Lad might be beaten coming home and he was thrilled that he stuck it out for victory.
“He had a tough draw tonight and he needed his early pace,” said Owen.
“He’s had a hard campaign and the night he was beaten into fourth there was a bit of sickness in the kennel. He will have a break now for a couple of months.”
Owen McKenna’s record at Tralee is, of course, nothing short of amazing, with three juvenile classic victories topping the list, and winning owner, Alan Williams, was fulsome in his praise of McKenna after the victory of Holycross Lad.
“It’s unbelievable, really, what this dog has achieved under McKenna since I bought him unraced last July,” said Alan.
“He won an unraced sweepstake at Cork, he was third behind that fantastic greyhound, Man Twenty One, in the final of the Texacloth Juvenile Derby at Newbridge and he then won two out of four races at Shelbourne Park.
“It really is something else that he could then come here and win this very valuable sweepstake. I just couldn’t speak highly enough of Owen McKenna and the job he has done with him. Mind you, I did think that my fellow was a good thing tonight. Tralee track is tailor-made for him.”
A terrific pre-Christmas crowd watched all the action unfold and backing up the final of the Kingdom Derby was the final of an A1 525 sweepstake final sponsored by the track supporters’ club and worth €1,000 to the winner.
This was won by Chespirito (2/1 joint fav), which Liam Dowling trains for Javier Jarne, of Zaragoza, Spain.
Chespirito didn’t break all that well from trap 4, but he ran the first bend very smartly behind the front-running Boher Maestro and, after overtaking Boher Maestro into the last bend, he went on to score by two and a half lengths from Black Agenda (also 2/1 joint fav) in28.51, which, very impressively, was eight spots faster than the winning time in the Kingdom Derby final. Boher Maestro was a neck behind Black Agenda in third place.
Also run off on the night were two semi-finals of another sweepstake sponsored by the track supporters’ club, this one for A3 class over 525yds and worth €1,500 to the winner.
Noel Browne’s bitch, Coolavanny Ella, was quite generously priced in the first semi-final at 6/4 and she won by a length and-a-half from Clounbrane Kerry in 28.92, with three lengths back to Pony Beauty.
The second semi-final was won in 29.13 by wide seed, Pennylane Rocky (5/2), which led off the first bend and won by three and-a-half lengths from Prospect House in 29.13, with three lengths back to 2/1 favourite, Ballymac Ina.
Happily, the 525yds box was back in working order and the way the night worked out generally was a credit to the track’s management.
It showed the Oakview venue up in the best possible light and it was nice to see the tote display unit in the inside field, which came from Harolds Cross, up and running.
Other winners: Miss Aero, 17.81; Baldoin, 29.07; Millridge Lola, 17.83; Trade Fudge, 31.01 (570yds), Millridge Act, 17.57; Pennylane Lucky, 28.59; Darragh Jet, 28.66; Knockeen Ridge, 29.05.