Rex puts rivals to sword
Greyhound racing’s premier classic reaches an important signpost on Saturday as we’ll see all of the remaining participants racing on the same evening for the first time.
Decent weather has meant that we haven’t seen some of the variances that have affected previous Derbys but the ever-presence of a strong Irish challenge is reflected by the sponsors offering odds of just 1/7 that the raiders will scoop the trophy on July 1.
That’s Magico
Reigning champion Romeo Magico has been one of the big market movers and he’s as short at 8/1 having been widely available at 20/1 ahead of the competition.
The dog survived a potential banana skin in the opening round but was very much back in business in round two when picking up our ante-post top bitch pick, Undulation, and the third round draw has been relatively kind.
We’ll see him in the last of the eight heats (20:26) where he will be pitched next door to his litter sister, Fabulous Azurra.
The aforementioned Undulation will take her chance in heat six (19:48) and much will rest upon her fending off Gaytime Nero to the opening bend. The danger could however lurk behind as 2022 finalist Savana Beau served notice in round two.
The Diane Henry-trained runner has reportedly had muscular issues that have prevented him from making regular appearances but last Saturday’s win was a step in the right direction and not many will be finishing better than him in this competition.
Rex favourite for prize
Swords Rex is now a general 4/1 for honours and he’s been impressive in his two Derby runs to date.
I was surprised that his clock in round two wasn’t rounded down as the surface appeared to be running slow and he’ll be short odds in the opening heat (18:20) despite the presence of Irish Derby second, Ballymac Finn.
Some Derby winners of the past have enjoyed a little luck in the qualification phases and supporters of Clona Duke will be hoping he hasn’t used all his up in the second round.
He made a real horlicks of the start last weekend having lowered the track record in the opening round and it was that sort of carelessness that caused him to exit the Kirby Memorial earlier in the year.
Heat two (18:35) will be no cakewalk if he misses the kick as there is no shortage of early pace around him and its notable that the layers have wanted to push him in the outright market as a consequence.
Marino makes his mark
Ballymac Marino (19:10) has always been held in high regard by his trainer Liam Dowling, and while he didn’t reproduce the fireworks of the opening round, his strength has been in his ability to pace up. The youngster was been rewarded with a berth in one of the weaker heats.
Alongside him in the ante-post lists to be “top puppy” is Maree Champion.
Seamus Cahill’s dog is some way shy of his second birthday but he’s doing everything right at present and progressed into this phase by a heavy three lengths. There will be no room for resting upon his laurels in heat seven (20:05) as he will be joined by last year’s semi-finalist, Signet Goofy and the much-improved Cochise.
Janssens seeks Command performance
Romeo Command (18:50) has a few spots to find on his recent work but competitions are never won by one-off clocks and he’s been brought to the boil by Patrick Janssens.
It’s been a mixed campaign for the Belgian-born handler so far with kennel stalwart Lautaro sadly breaking his hock so few would begrudge this son of 2018 Derby winner, Dorotas Wildcat, the chance to go deep.
As ever, the first three from each heat will progress onward to the next stage and there’s sure to plenty of thrills and hopefully not too many spills along the way.
- This year’s Derby will be shown live on Sportystuff.tv (Sky Channel 427, Freeview 264, Freesat 250) and by SIS in the betting shops and online across the majority of UK and Irish bookmakers