Tycoon Prince keeps it local
Lemon Pete derby-bound
THE FINAL of the Red Mills Tri-Distance featured at Enniscorthy Dog Track on Thursday night.
And there was a local winner as Tycoon Prince, owned by Raymond O’Sullivan of Carrigbyrne, tracked the punted Nicodemus into the back straight before making his move at the third bend. He went to the front as they turned for home and ran on strongly to beat the latter snugly in a good 32.76 over 600 yards.
The Boylesport Derby trial stake was also run, and the Patrick Roban-owned Lemon Pete was again a most impressive winner as he made it five wins out of his last six races. The 550 yards trip did not make any difference, and this was his 19th race win.
He will now represent Enniscorthy in Shelbourne in the Derby. The second round heats of the Woodside Nurseries (Aughrim) unraced were run on Monday of last week, and pups ran as pups as in there was a lot of mistakes made and slow times were recorded as a result.
Heat one saw Swan Diver overcome another tricky trap in box five, tracking leader and favourite Cuba down the back before Swan powered home to score and maintain his unbeaten run in a time of 29.43.
Heat two saw another unbeaten runner, Forest Whiskey, dodge through the trouble at the opening bends to get home in front of the fast-finishing Running Slick and Rathsilla Alli in a time of 29.78.
Heat three saw Product Girl run a fine race from a hard to win from trap six. She had to catch res. G Lily Light before she pulled away on the home stretch to score by two lengths in a time of 29.40.
Heat four saw Headford Iso get out well from his trap one box and run home a comfortable winner and, like all the heat winners, followed up his win from the first round for Barntown owner George Roche.
His time of 29.20 was the quickest of the four heats. This week’s semi-finals will be tricky to pick the winners from as cases can be made for a lot of the runners.
July 17 results - race one, Welcome To Enniscorthy A7 525: 1, Imaal Scotty (owner, Catherine Walshe, Co. Wicklow), 29.54; 2, Nametab Twista, 30.38.
Race two, The Woodside Nurseries (Aughrim) round two, heat one: 1, Swan Diver (owner, George Roche, Barntown), 29.43; 2, Forest Blake, 29.45.
Race three, heat two: 1, Forest Whiskey (owner, Patrick Kehoe, Grangecon), 29.78; 2, Running Slick, 30.23.
Race four, heat three: 1, Products Girl (owner, Kevin Kelly, Enniscorthy), 29.40; 2, Piercestown Inch, 29.54.
Race five, heat four: 1, Headford Iso (owner, George Roche, Barntown), 29.20; 2, Piercestown Mask, 29.25.
Race six, The Trackside Diner A5 525: 1, Ballarue Joey (owner, Breda Kennedy, New Ross), 28.95; 2, Battstreet Kane, 29.23.
Race seven, The Track Bar A3/A4 525: 1, Rathbally Titan (owner, James Flynn, Enniscorthy), 29.42; 2, Safe As Houses, 29.56.
Race eight, July A3/A4 550: 1, Tycoon Rita (owner, Raymond O’Sullivan, Co. Wexford), 30.55; 2, Paradise Kody, 30.56.
July 20 results - race one, Welcome To Enniscorthy S2/S3 350: 1, Lord Lucky (owner, Tommy Woods, Enniscorthy), 18.99; 2, Daniels Dream, 19.09.
Race two, Intertrack Betting A7/ A8 525: 1, Black Tusk (owners, Thomas and Tomás Kirwan, Wexford), 29.61; 2, Mangan Boy, 29.66.
Race three, The Trackside Diner A5 525: 1, Vinegarhill Lane (owner, Pat Hyland, Vinegar Hill, Enniscorthy), 29.39; 2, Barrack Fifi, 29.56.
Race four, www.igb.ie A4 525: 1, Reckingball (owner, George Roche, Barntown), 29.38; 2, Tullycanna Dot, 29.48.
Race five, The Show Grounds A2 525: 1, Airdown Rena (owners, Karen and Stephen Parker, Piercestown), 28.88; 2, Elusive Star, 29.02.
Race six, The Track Bar A4 525: 1, Rocky Dee Rocket (owner, Dean O’Leary, Enniscorthy), 28.66; 2, Boderan mist, 29.57.
Race seven, Red Mills A3/A4 Tri-Distance Stake final: 1, Tycoon Prince (owner, Raymond O’Sullivan, Carrigbyrne), 32.76; 2, Nicodemus, 32.93.
Race eight, 2017 Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby Trial Stake 550: 1, Lemon Pete (owner, Patrick Roban, Enniscorthy), 30.06; 2, College Jade, 30.58.
Race nine, July A3 575: 1, Dolls China (owner, Edward Sheridan, Co. Wicklow), 31.80; 2, Sion For Blaze, 32.08. THE LEINSTER League pairs final night was held in Bunclody on Friday night.
The final standings in Division 1 were: 1, Tom Connors and John Giltrap (Woodsmen), eleven points; Dennis Ryan and Paddy Byrne (Gouleyduff), ten points; John Joe Byrne and Brendan Earle (Monageer), nine points.
Congratulations to Connors and Giltrap who were the best duo over the four nights and were well-deserved champions.
It was a close tournament overall, with different teams shining on different nights.
Division 2: 1, Seán O’Connor and Michael Doyle (Gouleyduff), five points; 2, Jim Sludds and Chris Sludds (Monart), four points; 3, Larry Byrne and Christy Doyle (Gouleyduff), three points.
Special thanks to Podge’s Bar, Bunclody, for the use of the pub, and the All-Ireland Association for providing food for the presentation afterwards.
Upcoming events: Cooney’s, Cranford (formerly McCrea’s) will be running an open doubles tournament on Saturday, July 29, at 6.30 p.m.