Tyrur Big Mike sees competition fall away at Irish Greyhound Derby
It was a rough night at Shelbourne Park for race favourites at the Irish Greyhound Derby quarter-finals (not to be confused with the Irish Derby Plate quarter-finals) Saturday night. Of the four heats only one race favourite, Tyrur Big Mike, was able to even qualify for next week’s semi-finals. Big Mike is now favoured to win the entire derby after seeing other favourites eliminated over the past couple of weeks including, Makeshift and Farley Blitz two weeks ago, and now Tyrur Enda, Razldazl Lord, Westmead Grand, Kinda Ready, and Definate Opinion.
Big Mike, 5-4 race favourite, ran in the third heat, a race featuring a number of potential derby winners, and showed the other hopefuls what it would take to win the Irish Greyhound Derby being strong out of the traps and leading the entire race.
Thurlesbeg Joker was slow out of the traps, but showed some determination by moving up the pack at a steady pace. Joker was trailing in fourth at the mid way point of the race, and in danger of losing a spot in next week’s semi-finals, but had a very strong second half moving his way all the way up to second place, a length behind Big Mike.
Mesedo Blue, who held second from the traps until Joker’s move, took the third spot. Eliminated from the Irish Derby were Killacolla Glory, Westmead Grant, and Kinda Ready. Kinda Ready was looking to become only the second hound to win both an Irish derby and an English derby, but will now have to look to next year to accomplish that feat.
The first heat of the Irish Derby saw the biggest surprise of the day as 25-1 longshot, Ballymac Under, won the race by ¾ lengths over Colorful Champ. Under was quick out of the fourth trap, took an early lead, and didn’t look back. It was a tight race for the third and a spot in the semi-finals as Barefoot Bullet finished ahead of Monlesa Alsation by ¾ lengths. Eliminated with Alsation were Whatsupjack and Tyrur Enda.
Tyrur Mcguigan looked good in the second heat winning the race easily over Krug Ninety Five by a length. Mcguigan has now won four of his last five races, and could be Big Mike’s biggest threat remaining at the Irish Derby; the two hounds drew different heats in the semi-finals. After Ninety Five came Foyle Storm in third. Eliminated were, Razldazl Lord, Blazers Black, and Freedom Seacrest.
The final heat of the day saw another longshot qualify for the semi-finals as Dromore Hero took third place over 9-10 race favourite, Definate Opinion, who looked slow early, didn’t push when Hero challenged him. Tullymurry Act had no trouble winning the race, and Hats My Boy sat comfortably in second from the traps to the finish line. The two other hounds to be eliminated were longshots Oran Jaguar and Tyrur Richie.
Next week’s semi-final will look like this:
HEAT 1
1 TULLYMURRY ACT
2 COLORFUL CHAMP
3 TYRUR BIG MIKE (M)
4 MESEDO BLUE (M)
5 THURLESBEG JOKER (M)
6 DROMORE HERO (W)
HEAT 2
1 FOYLES STORM
2 HATS MY BOY (M)
3 KRUG NINETY FIVE (M)
4 BALLYMAC UNDER (M)
5 TYRUR MCGUIGAN (M)
6 BAREFOOT BULLET (W)
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