The 2024 Irish Greyhound Derby Semi-Finals take place on Saturday night. Ratings analyst, Pete Walker, looks back at the quarter-finals and ahead to Saturday’s racing including the Derby Plate.
We witnessed another fantastic night’s racing with both the quarter-finals of the Irish Derby and Derby Plate last Saturday at headquarters. Even before that though, we had another track record broken in the Puppy Oaks competition over the 480m. This time it was Droopys Kathleen who bettered the quickest time by nine spots in 27.58 seconds. Incredibly, she is only 18 months old and the best may be yet still to come but what a prospect connections have for the future.
Quarter-final 1
The first heat included March On Freddie in trap 4 with both unbeaten wide runners on his outside. Bombay Pat produced the goods again with Ballinabola Jim six lengths adrift in second. Surprisingly, De Lahdedah was backed into favouritism but couldn’t justify his support and missed out in fifth. Good news for our Freddie as he resolutely pushed on to take the last qualifying position.
Quarter-final 2
Cheap Sandwiches was a strong favourite in the next but A Lucky Julie didn’t follow the script and came from behind to win by half a length. The bitches are well represented as Singalong Dolly also ran on to take third with the odds-on jolly in front of her by three quarters of a length. Untold Dollar was slower away and couldn’t make a telling challenge.
Quarter-final 3
Carrick Aldo had chased home Bockos Diamond in his previous two rounds and that form was well and truly franked with a front-running display. However, an eye-catching performance from Boylesports Bob who chased the winner all the way to the line. Da Bold Falcon stayed on after finding trouble earlier in the contest and became one of three eventual inside runners to go through to the semis.
Quarter-final 4
The last heat on paper looked straight forward enough for the current ante post favourite. Even though he appears to be relatively slow out of the traps, once into his stride his acceleration to the opening bend is spectacular and never saw another rival once again. The talented and recent Juvenile Derby winner Callaway Knegare came through from an unpromising position early on as runner-up. Seven Beach also qualified to make it nine wide runners out of twelve in the hat for the semi-finals.
The Draw
The first semi-final saw all four quarter-final winners drawn out together with Bockos Diamond in trap 3 and Pat beside him on his right in 4. They both remain the only unbeaten greyhounds in the Derby and matched winning times in 29.19 seconds last Saturday. It doesn’t get any tougher than this for Bockos Diamond but is odds-on to win again.
Carrick Aldo won his quarter-final in 29.15 so this is a mouth-watering clash not to be missed. March On Freddie has drawn trap 4 again in the second semi-final. If he can reproduce his first-round performance, he has a very good chance to reach the final. However, the other three wides are Cheap Sandwiches in 3, Boylesports Bob in 5 and Ballinabola Jim in 6, so will probably need to break at least level to be in with a shout as they will be difficult to peg back at the business end of the race.
Ratings
While Bockos Diamond remains top, the chasing pack have improved ratings wise so may not have all his own way this time. The first semi-final is good enough to be the finale in itself. In the second, beware of Boylesports Bob who is coming to hand at just the right time. Hopefully not at our Freddie’s expense.
Good luck to all left in at this stage. In the Derby Plate, the early ante post favourite was Coosane Pickles but was unfortunately withdrawn coming into season. Unless suppressed, this can happen if not had one in the last six months. Something to bear in mind if betting bitches ante post. Carmac King became the fastest winner on the night in 29.05 seconds and has now risen well clear at the top of the rankings. If he maintains that standard, he will be hard to beat. Taking that remarkable run aside, it could still be a very wide-open competition.
Saturday 9.06
9.24
Saturday 8.18
Saturday 8.32
