Unpredicatable Irish Greyhound Derby Plate at Shelbourne: semi-finals preview
The Irish Greyhound Derby has been going on simultaneously with the Irish Greyhound Derby Plate, and while the Derby has produced an astonishing number of upsets to date, the Derby Plate is not far behind after last week’s quarter-final races. In each of the two semi-finals, the top three finishers will qualify for next week’s final.
Baytown boss finished last as a race favourite last week, and fellow race favourite, Kiowa Myth, was knocked out after finishing. Not quite the plethora the Derby has seen, but the Derby Plate has also seen a number of longshots qualify for the semi-final races tomorrow at Shelbourne.
Tyrur Lucky and Ballymac Mitsy, both 10-1 longshots, took second and third spots last week respectively to give them surprise appearances in the semi-finals while 20-1 longshot, Black Paws Down, squeaked into third last week ahead of Cartiers Dazzle by a neck. Tomorrow’s second semi-final will see all three of these longshots race against each other in what could hold another surprise finish.
The first semi-final has a slightly stronger field starting with St Louis Spirit in the sixth trap. Spirit has won his last two Derby Plate races including a come from behind victory over Slippery Dave last week, who was looking to take his first win in the Derby Plate before Spirit slipped in. He’ll have another chance tomorrow, drawing the third trap in the first semi-final.
Another strong racer in the first heat will be Three One Three in the first trap, who won last week over Kerrydale Farlow by a length. Kerrydale will also have a chance for revenge coming out of the fifth trap.
Rounding out the field in the first semi-final is Mustang Johnny in the fourth trap and Dartrey Spring in the second. Both hold victories in the Derby Plate already.
Looking back to the second heat, the three longshots from last week have been spread across the traps. Mitsy will come out of trap two and Black Paws Down from trap three while Tyrur Lucky will be coming out of the sixth trap for the second Derby Plate race in a row.
In the fourth trap is Westmead Bolt, who should have little trouble winning this race or at the very least qualify for the final next week. Bolt has won his last two races in the Derby Plate, the more impressive of the two coming in the first round against Cartiers Dazzle in a late come-from- behind victory.
Ballyfeard Brave will run from the fifth trap, and is lucky to have drawn the weaker of the two semi-finals after failing to impress so far. Brave took second in the first round, but was a distant third last week.
Royal Tornado drew the first trap, and will look to continue his week to week improvement in the Derby Plate. In the first round, Tornado finished in second place, 5 1/3 lengths behind Dartrey Spring, but last week he led to the final stretch until Mustang Johnny took a late lead to win.
Here are tomorrow’s draws:
Semi-final 1: 1 Three One Three, 2 Dartrey Spring, 3 Slippery Dave, 4 Mustang Johnny, 5 Kerrydale Farloe, 6 St Louis Spirit
Semi-final 2: 1 Royal Tornado, 2 Ballymac Mitsy, 3 Black Paws Down, 4 Westmead Bolt, 5 Ballyfeard Brave, 6 Tyrur Lucky
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