Sarah Kinsella
De Lahdedah Wins English Greyhound Derby
The Sharon Hunt trained Tuono Charlie was crowned the €10,500 IRGT Corn Cuchulainn 750 champion at Shelbourne Park on Saturday night.
This son of Good News – Farronrory Bonny remained unbeaten in the competition, but he just held on by a neck with Ballyhooly Tejay finishing strong for trainer Tom O’Neill. Charlie opened a strong lead in the early stages of the race clocking 41.32 and will now enjoy a little break from the track. His trainer reported this morning that he is in great form. Well done to all involved, he is a special greyhound.
The BoyleSports Champion Stakes & Plate both kicked off at Shelbourne Park with two qualifying from each of the heats to make up the finals that will take place this Saturday. Con & Annie Kirby Memorial winner Knockeen Dazzler was very impressive for trainer Dan O’Rahilly as he won in 29.78. Other heat winners of the Champion Stakes were the Fraser Black trained Maireads Prince (29.80) and the Owen McKenna trained Lets Go Bubbles (29.64).
The three heat winners of the Champion Plate were Brunswick Bullet (29.99), Glengar Martha (29.77) and Scooby Countess (29.87). The Champion Stakes winner will receive €20,000 while the Plate winner will receive €4,000. Terrific prize money for a two-run event.
Around the Country
There was plenty of excellent racing at some of our other stadia including the semi-finals of the TIME Greyhound Nutrition Confined A4 Derby and the Treaty Cup at Limerick, the semi-finals of the Denis Linehan Solicitors Open Unraced at Curraheen Park along with the semi-finals of the David Fitzgibbon Memorial Open 525 and the opening round of the Shelley Fennelly Memorial. The Centenary Agri Tipperary Cup Open semi-finals at Thurles and the Pat Curtin Memorial semi-finals at Mullingar. All the results and reports from all of our stadia can be found on Talking Dogs.
English Greyhound Derby – De Lahdedah King of Towcester
Kerry trainer Liam Dowling and his team were celebrating at Towcester on Saturday night as their De Lahdedah won the £175,000 English Greyhound Derby. A brilliant achievement with the Paul Hennessy trained BoyleSports Bob grabbing second place. We can’t wait to see these stars return to racing back home with plenty of competitions coming up.
Sarah Kinsella, spokesperson for Greyhound Racing Ireland, said: “Congratulations to Liam Dowling and everyone involved with De Lahdedah, it was a stunning performance. There was so much racing around the country with Tuono Charlie a brilliant winner of the Corn Cuchulainn for trainer Sharon Hunt. There are plenty of finals this weekend so best of luck to everyone.”
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