Irish Derby first round: Thursday qualifiers
Fatboyz Tyson clocked the fastest time of 29.71sec in last night’s first round heats of the Ladbrokes Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park.
The Patrick Gordon-trained runner was gifted with trap five in the opener, and blitzed out once the hare had crossed the mark to complete the perfect race and come home by over five lengths.
Tyson now overtakes Champion Stakes runner-up Tyrur Big Mike in the ante-post market as favourite, after Big Mike was beaten by last year’s English Derby champion Kinda Ready in heat five.
Ian Seymour’s Ready did an excellent job of closing the gap at the fourth bend and nabbing the victory over Big Mike when clocking 29.79sec.
A very similar race came in the second heat as Skywalker Queen, the 2009 Irish Oaks winner, got the better of Champion Stakes winner Makeshift.
Queen took the difficult route of steering wide after the fourth bend yet still managed to pace up well and steal victory by a short head in 29.89sec.
Paul Hennessy’s Colorful Champ ended the first set of first round heats after pinging well to gain the early lead and cross the mark in what was the second fastest time (29.77sec) of the night.
Thursday heat 1-8 results:
Heat 1 – 20:10
1. Fatboyz Tyson (29.71sec)
2. Monks Patriot (30.13sec)
3. Local Dee Jay (30.14sec)
4. Fleetwood Nick (30.16sec)
Heat 2 – 20:25
1. Skywalker Queen (29.89sec)
2. Makeshift (29.90sec)
3. Oran Jaguar (30.25sec)
4. Highview Shadow (30.32sec)
Heat 3 – 20:40
1. Foyle Storm (29.98sec)
2. Hipower Turbo (30.08sec)
3. Ballyfeard Brave (30.14sec)
4. Mileheight Crash (30.42sec)
Heat 4 – 20:55
1. Hats My Boy (29.80sec)
2. Slippery Dave (29.90sec)
3. He Told Ted (30.22sec)
4. Burn Em Up (30.50sec)
Heat 5 – 21:10
1. Kinda Ready ( 29.79sec)
2. Tyrur Big Mike (29.93sec)
3. Ballymac Mitsy (29.94sec)
4. Black Paws Down (30.36sec)
Heat 6 – 21:25
1. Mesedo Blue (29.79sec)
2. Tyrur Brennan (30.03sec)
3. Marked Urgent (30.17sec)
4. Baytown Boss (30.18sec)
Heat 7 – 21:40
1. Westmead Logan (29.89sec)
2. Whatsupjack (30.17sec)
3. Dartrey Spring (30.20sec)
4. Tyrur Gerado (30.34sec)
Heat 8 – 21:55
1. Colorful Champ (29.77sec)
2. Ballymac Tipp (29.91sec)
3. Barefoot Bullet (29.98sec)
4. Ballymac Under (30.22sec)
This year’s Irish Derby is as wide open as ever, a total of 144 entries are up for the gold in what is referred as Europe’s richest race.
The first round heats will continue tonight at Shelbourne Park, with the final set of heats set to take place on Saturday.
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