RED-HOT IRISH ST. LEGER SEMIS CAN SEE TREATY AND DIEGO PREVAIL

Peter Farrell

The 2025 Callaway Pro Am Irish St. Leger really took off at Limerick Greyhound Stadium last Saturday night and we have two exceptional semi finals in store later tonight with all eyes on Clonbrien Treaty in the opener.

The two-time reigning champion blew off the cobwebs in the opening round with an impressive second place finish, however, he obviously took plenty away from that outing as he raced to a 29.48 success in last week's second round. On that occasion, the son of Pestana led home a field that wouldn’t have looked out of place in any final and on that evidence, he remains the force of old, which is ominous for his remaining eleven rivals in the Classic. Indeed, while James and Muireann Murphy’s blue will need to negotiate a tricky trap four berth, this could well see him trap a litter sharper and that being the case, ‘Treaty’ could build a sizable lead in this contest. There isn’t a huge amount of early speed in this line-up and this too bodes well for Holland’s charge. Of his main rivals, Daleroad Duke will bid to reverse the form with Clonbrien Treaty after going down to a one and a half-length defeat last weekend. On that occasion, Pat Guilfoyle’s star broke in front of ‘Treaty’, however, failed to hold his rival in the early exchanges. Drawn in two, there is nothing to suggest he can flip that outcome this time around, however, he will be an odds-on shot to advance into the final and can run another big race for connections. Ballyhimikin Ben is another that can enter calculations for Kenny Glen and Graham Holland. A kennel companion of Clonbrien Treaty, ‘Ben’ has contested the Classic brilliantly up to this point and ran a big race in defeat last time out to finish third. Housed in five, the son of Good Cody will need one of his better exits to get involved early, however, he has no forlorn hope of springing a surprise. Elsewhere, Drombeg Banner can emerge a possible thorn in the side of Clonbrien Treaty with his early speed for Evan McAuliffe, while Flyers Minnie and Flight Club may well go off as double figure chances, but they both have enough on prior evidence to book one of those all-important qualification spots.

DIEGO CAN REEL IN HARVEY

While a lot of the attention has rightly fallen on a greyhound chasing an historic third Leger triumph, another tracker in the form of Hello Diego has taken off since arriving in Limerick.

The Paul Hennessy-trained star posted a phenomenal 29.41 from off-the-pace in last week's second round and he is a worthy favourite coming into the second semi final. Indeed, the son of Jaytee Yankee, owned by Paul Hynes, has appreciated the big galloping circuit that Limerick has offered and there is little to suggest that he cannot make it three on the spin from trap five. In truth, his 2.85 sectional was uncharacteristic for ‘Diego’ and should he reproduce that, he can turn in a handy position once again, which should see him ultimately prevail given his outstanding finishing power. His main threat is another hailing from the Graham Holland kennel, Faypoint Harvey. Patricia Flanagan’s star boasts a prolific record and has a brilliant draw in trap two, outside of a greyhound who would lead nine times out of ten. A winner in 29.73 last time out, the son of Droopys Sydney remains unbeaten in the classic and could set a blistering gallop out in front. Should this be the case, it will be a case of catch me if you can. Blastoff Heffo is another with good claims in trap one. Philip Buckley has previous in the Leger and his son of Dorotas Wildcat has shown very well up to this point. A winner in 29.88 in the opener, he lost little in his narrow defeat to Faypoint Harvey last time out and has the bonus of being drawn in trap one this time around. In a wide open second semi, Cagey Billy, Droopys Deploy and Magical Sapphire make up the field and all will be finishing with a flurry for their respective connections. In particular, the experienced Cagey Billy has been running out of his skin in recent weeks for Christopher Delaney and he gets the vote to seal a qualifying spot ahead of the feature next week. Droopys Deploy had every chance of reeling in Flyers Minnie last time out and was a little underwhelming on that occasion, while Magical Sapphire will likely require a little traffic in order to build up ahead of steam at the halfway mark.