The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Ballymac Bolger shades Juvenile Classic for owner/trainer Dowling
LIAM Dowling has proved himself to be a real winning machine over the years and before a huge crowd at Tralee Track last Friday night he gave Kerry its second victory in the GMHD Juvenile Classic (winner, €14,000) with a brilliant September ’16 whelping called Ballymac Bolger (Definate Opinion – Ballymac Razl), emulating, in the process, the great victory in the 2010 running of the event by Dromore Dasher, owned by Mrs Elizabeth, of Brosna.
Liam Dowling, of course, keeps on winning at the highest level with his charges and it was quite remarkable that, some 160 or so miles away, three bitches from his Ballymac kennels, Ballymac Twinkle, Ballymac Maxi and Ballymac Quality, were winning first-round heats of an unraced sweepstake at Newbridge.
The gods can smile on you like that, but only, of course, if you have the kind of ammunition which Dowling is continuously able to muster.
He is the owner as well as trainer of Ballymac Bolger, which sweetened it all very nicely for him last Friday night, and the victory of Ballymac Bolger, something of an outsider at 4/1, was made possible by the very best of starts by him from trap 5.
Mind you, he did need that start because the Graham Holland-trained Slippy Cain, one of two 5/2 joint favourites trained by Graham Holland (the other was Newinn Blake), came at him very hard coming home and it required the judge to separate them at the line, with the nod going to Ballymac Bolger by just a short head.
In third place, two and a half lengths behind Slippy Cain, was 7/1 shot, Toolmaker Maxwel, and the winning time was 28.53.
Following his brilliant start from trap 5, Ballymac Bolger headed straight for the rails, avoiding everything inside him, and it was most definitely “catch me if you can” after that.
For sure, Slippy Cian lost absolutely nothing in defeat and, indeed, a lot of the greyhounds in the 2018 classic, not just the six finalists, are likely to make big impacts in their future careers and fair play to Gallivan Murphy Hooper Dolan Insurances for continuing to make this great event, and the marvellous supporting programme that goes with it on final night, happen in such outstanding fashion.
In his post victory interview, Liam Dowling said that it was fantastic to win the big one on home ground in Tralee. “This is the youngest greyhound I ever put into this classic and, really, it was an after-thought to enter him,” he said.
“We took our chance and we certainly reaped the reward. He ran brilliantly in the first two rounds, but he came down sick before his semi-final and ran below par in it. It was a great line-up in the final and the break won it for him. He wants the rails big-time.
“I really don’t know at this stage what the future plan is for him. The Kirby sweepstake at Limerick is probably a bit too soon for him, but we will let the dog tell us about that before we make a decision on it.
“He is a young pup with a very bright future, but we won’t see the best of him until he is two years old.
“There have been very substantial offers for him and the way I look at it is that I am not getting any younger and you might need something to roll you out of bed that bit faster in the morning.”
THE superb supporting card was comprised of eleven races, including six sweepstake finals, and the fastest of all on the night was Ardfert Carmac, which clocked 28.45 in the fifth race (A1 525) for Adrian and Kathleen Clifford, of Ardfert (the trainer is Timmy Carmody).
This was a buster race carrying the name of Faha National School, which used the night as a fund-raiser, and Ardfert Carmac gave a brilliant front-running display from trap 4 to score by three lengths from Unleashthebeast. The January ’16 son of Scolari Me Daddy and Carmac Cyrus just seems to go from strength to strength and this was his eighth victory from just eleven starts.
There was also a buster race (A4 525) carrying the name of Castleisland Coursing Club and this was won by the Ray Fleming-trained Ballyverane Boy (3/1), which ran the first bend beautifully from trap 4 to be a close second to Millridge Magic off it and he drove on really well after that to score by two and a half lengths from a reserve, Sporting Jake, in 29.31, with the same distance back to Millridge Magic.
Other winners: Allied World A8 525 final: Packing Heat, 29.37; Willis Towers Watson A7 525 final: Steeple Rd Taylr, 29.50; O’Driscoll O’Neill S2 325: Cashcube Lady, 17.92; Premium Credit A4 525 final: Send It Softly, 29.60; GMHD A0 525: Crossfield Will, 28.59; Hooper Dolan A5 525 final: Icy Rock, 29.17; Zurich A1 525 final: Clounbrane Kerry, 29.40; Underwriting Exchange A6 525 final: Rocket Pocket, 29.06; GMHD A2 550: Fridas Secret, 30.37.