Allen trained Tellmemorelies claims Limerick Cup for Ballyduff

THE Limerick Cup made its way to Ballyduff on Sunday evening as Tellmemorelies (NewInn Wonder/ NewInn Droopy) came of age in the feature event at the Rathkeale Coursing meeting.

The James Allen trained brindle faced a tricky opening buckle against Kilflynn winner Kerry Abu, but he produced the fastest time of the round with a two-length success. The even money favourite when the boards were chalked for finals day, Tellmemorelies finished strong to repel the challenge of the Donal O’Connell trained BattleoftheBoyne by a length to progress to the last four. Bridewell Adios stood in the way of a place in the final and they went to slips with just a single spot separating the pair on the clocks. Whilst Bridewell showed a good burst of early pace, Tellmemorelies was always in the ascendancy and finished powerfully to take the opening turn by two lengths. The winner went to slips at odds of 1/3 to collect in the final course against Cooga Hero. While the latter claimed the upper hand through the opening exchanges in the deciding buckle, the winner produced his trademark burst of pace from halfway to clear his rival with relative ease and raced into a three-length advantage by the opening turn.

Owned by the Strike-a-booze syndicate, Tellmemorelies is find- ing improvement with every outing and a serious challenge at this season’s Kingdom Cup looks well within his capabilities.

Russmur Event (Mafi Magic/ Specific Event), who had previously reached the semi-final stage at Mallow, proved a decisive winner of the Oaks Trial Stake for Rathmore owner’s Ger and Michael Murphy. Having produced an eye-catching performance in her opening round success against Pumpkin Razor, she continued to blaze the trail when defeating Cyrptic Sunrise by five lengths to progress to the quarter final stage. An 8 length win over Tory Rita saw the East Kerry runner shorten into odds of 4/6; however, she was made to dig deep at the semi-final stage where she just edged out Following lights by half a length. Russmur was in the white collar in the deciding course against Glorious Alonso, and while the winner surrendered ground leaving slips, she finished with a powerful kick from halfway for a comfortable three-length success. The Jerry Griffin trained May whelp has attracted a price of 25/1 for the Classic.

The Derby Trial Stake was all about Blades Of Fire (Adios Alonso/ Blades Of Glory) who easily negotiated his way through the rounds and now sit at the top of the betting for this year’s Classic at odds of 7/1. Trained by Jerry Holian, the winner set the fastest clock on both days of competition and pulverised his opposition in each round. He put six lengths between himself and Blamethesideline in the penultimate course and had an eight length victory in the final against the Ballyglen Duke. He possesses a devastating turn of early foot and finished powerfully in all his courses. Owned by the Guiney family from Rathkeale, he is without doubt the yardstick for which all Derby qualifiers will be judged against this season.

Moat Matilda (Adios Alonso/ Moat Missy) collected the points in the All Age Bitch Stake and made it a double on the card for Holian as she came from off the pace to defeat ShimmerandShine in the final course. The latter led briefly, but as soon as the winner hit the front she cut off the running path of her rival and stayed on gamely for a two-length success. Owned by Noreen McManus and Jim Mcdaid, she showed vast improvement from her maiden outing at Loughrea and should add to her points tally as the season progresses.

Finally, the John Geoghegan owned Slippy Leo (March Is On/ Slippy Toes) was a convincing winner of the Mike Meehan Stake when leading Cortona by five lengths in the deciding course. The Athea owned runner is trained by Edward O’Sullivan. Ballinveala Jody (Kyle James/ Intervention) claimed the Deel Stake for Tim Collins from Mountcollins when defeating Some Master by one length in the final course.

The O’Carroll Cup/ O’Connor Cup is the feature of the Lixnaw meeting next weekend which gets underway on Friday at 11.30am.