Droopy’s Ant the fancy in Race of Champions final

HOW time flies! For those of us who were there on June 1, 1997, it was hard to believe that 21 years had elapsed since the official opening of the magnificent grandstand at Tralee Greyhound Stadium, and it was great to see those two big government hitters of the time, Dick Spring (An Tanaiste) and Jimmy Deenihan (Minister of State), being part of the 21st birthday celebrations last Friday night, along with the amazing Micheál Ó Mhuircheartaigh, who cut the birthday cake, and Ger Dollard, CEO of the Irish Greyhound Board.

The night also acted as a fund-raiser for the local St Brendan’s Park soccer club, which gave a huge boost to the attendance, and, best of all, the ten-race programme featured the three semi-finals of the highly-prestigious Kerry GAA Supporters’ Club 550 Race of Champions (winner, €15,000), plus two semi-finals of the Kerry Group A3 525 Club Championship (winner, €3,000), both of which will be brought to a conclusion before an even bigger crowd this Friday night.

Remember last year? A brilliant bitch called Killinan Rosie emerged victorious in 29.62 for trainer Pat Buckley and her English owner, with none other than the great Good News, which broke the track record at the semi-final stage (29.34), finishing last of the six finalists.

Bitches figure prominently again this year and, indeed, one of them, the John A Lenihan-trained Droopys Ant, is certain to go off favourite, with leading track bookmaker, Berkie Browne, saying that she will not be better than 6/4 on the night.

Droopys Ant was the only wide seed in the first semi-final, guaranteeing her trap 6, and, sent off the 6/4 favourite, she did the business quite superbly, leading the charge into the first bend and going on to score by two and a half lengths from Black Eyed Peppa in 29.64.

The Michael J O’Donovan-trained Black Eyed Peppa broke last of the field and, with only two qualifying, he did well to deny Liam Dowling’s Mc Razl a place in the final by just a neck.

The third semi-final saw the Pat Buckley-trained Javielenko clock 29.78 in beating another Liam Dowling runner, Ballymac Meena, by three and a half lengths.

Ballymac Meena was very much an outsider at 10/1, but, after coming into trap 3 as a reserve, she cut out the running for most of the trip and was just over a length ahead of Javielenko (2/1) rounding the third bend. However, Pat Buckley’s charge carried far too much power for her coming home.

What would have happened had another Dowling runner, Ballymac Bolger, been able to take his place in trap 2 (he was replaced by the Pat Buckley-trained Flat White)? Ballymac Bolger, as we all know, was a brilliant winner of the GMHD juvenile classic earlier in the year and he had trialled in 17.25 (325yds) and 28.07 (525yds) in the days leading up to Friday night. That really made him a stand-out candidate and it was disappointing that he was unable to take his chance.

Javielenko, though, did impress in recording his victory, especially the way he drove into the third bend to close the gap on Ballymac Meena, and, as it so happens, he has trap 1 again in Friday night’s final – plus the Pat Buckley factor, of course!

Pat Buckley also won the second semi-final with 4/1 shot, Legal Ace, though the winning time here, 30.34, impressed nobody. Legal Ace actually replaced another Pat Buckley runner, Nice Mystery, in trap 1 and, to his credit, he did well to take up the running off the first bend from Crohane Ronnie and win by six lengths from Clonbrien Hero, though the winning margin greatly flattered him because of a lot of buffeting behind.

So, the way is cleared for the final this Friday night and, with Kerry GAA again throwing all its weight behind the event, it will surely be a night that will be up there with Lee Strand final night, crowd-wise especially.

The Kerry GAA Supporters’ Club deserves huge praise for again sponsoring the Race Of Champions so generously and Portlaw’s Sean Dunphy, the owner of Droopys Ant, looks like being the man who will carry off the magnificent winner’s purse of €15,000 courtesy of his brilliant bitch.

Droopys Ant, being the only wide seed, will again be wearing the striped sheet and if she breaks like she did last Friday night, which is highly likely, there will probably be no catching her. Time will tell, as they say.

The draw is (trap order): Javielenko, Clonbrien Hero, Legal Ace, Ballymac Meena, Black Eyed Peppa, Droopys Ant (W).

In relation to the birthday celebrations on the night, it was nice to hear Declan Dowling, chief honcho at the Oakview venue, give honourable mention to the late Eileen Kelliher, of Castleisland, who was very much the powerhouse behind the drive to build the grandstand those 21 years ago. Just ask Dick Spring!