Focus switches quickly from Clonmel to Irish Cup

IN the quickest of follow-ups to the national coursing meeting, the Irish Cup meeting takes place at Limerick Racecourse in Patrickswell this Friday, Saturday and Sunday and, hopefully, Kerry greyhounds will be very much to the fore, as the Liam Dowling-trained Boylesports Magic was to such stunning effect In the Kevin Smith Champion Stakes at Powerstown Park last weekend. And, of course, a bitch bred by John Flynn in Tarbert, Foxhollow Queen, won an Oaks in which two Kerry owners, Bill O’Shea, and Kathleen Casey O’Connell, saw their charges excel in qualifying for the semi-finals

As well, Snap Streak reached the semi-final of the Derby for Tarbert trainer, Patrick O’Connor, and joint owners, Cillian Brosnan and James Enright.

A tremendous boost for the organisers of the Irish Cup, County Limerick Coursing Club, is the fact that Dublin Coach came on board last week as sponsors and, in fact, Dublin Coach has committed to the event for five years.

The Irish Cup itself continues to be worth €40,000 to the winner, of which the nominator gets €6,000, and the next most valuable event on the Patrickswell programme is the Patsy Byrne Memorial Select All Age Bitch Stake, which has a winner’s purse of €6,000 (the nominator gets €2,000).

The late Patsy Byrne was quite a remarkable man, and the most generous of benefactors, and it is great to see his name associated with a sport he loved so passionately, as is also the case at the national meeting.

The Dick Fitzgerald Memorial Irish Purse and the Bill Chawke Irish Plate are both worth €4,000 to the winner (€1,000 for the nominator in both), while €2,000 goes to the winner of the Kyle Invitational Champion Working Members Stake.

In relation to the latter event, the winner of a trial stake, a reserve trial stake or an all-aged cup is ineligible.

Proper credentials are needed for the Irish Cup itself, as a qualification system applies, and each of the 64 nominators, at €750 a pop, will be hoping for a good run by the greyhound carrying their name. The 64 owners pay an entry fee of €425, which makes it a combined €1,175 for each of the 64 entries.

It’s a bit of a change to see the Irish Cup meeting coming so quickly after Clonmel, but there was a time back there when we thought that there might be no coursing at all this season.

Everything, therefore, has been a bonus and the best of luck to all the participants at Patrickswell Racecourse this weekend. Especially those from Kerry.

SUNDAY SIS SESSION

MILLRIDGE Hunter was very much the fastest winner, on 28.96 (.40 slow), at Sunday’s SIS session, while the other winners were Rushpool Dream, 29.77; Boom Mabe, 29.89; Bobsleigh Lass, 29.38; Abbey Paradise, 29.63; Headleys Trinkle, 29.98; Black Secret, 29.90; Pennylane Storm, 29.62.