DELICATE LASS CROWNED ROMA CASINO IRISH CAMBRIDGESHIRE CHAMP

Peter Farrell

The final of the €4,500 to the winner Roma Casino Irish Cambridgeshire Open 750 took pride of place at Limerick on Saturday night and in what was a wide-open decider, Delicate Lass produced her trademark flying finish to land the spoils.

Kindly sponsored by Dan Flynn, this competition never fails to produce and patrons have been treated to a magnificent few weeks of six-bend racing. Indeed, coming into the final opinion was split as to who would prevail, however, Delicate Lass continued her climb to marathon racing greatness as she produced a super performance to land the valuable feature.

Owned by Mary Kennedy, Delicate Lass arrived into the Cambridgeshire with a big reputation having showcased her sensational finishing power at Tralee, where she was coming from hopeless positions to land the spoils. After landing her opening round assignment in similar fashion, she was always going to take a bit of stopping if granted any sort of a clear passage. Prior to the off, Daleroad Poppy was installed as the 6/4 favourite, Delicate Lass was a 5/2 chance, while it was 3/1 Fashion Model, 7/2 Newport Pier, 9/2 Magical Poppet and the outsider of the pack was Dashing Toro at odds of 8/1. 

BUSY START

At traprise, it was Newport Pier that boxed brilliantly from red and she was to lead Magical Poppet around the opening two bends. Dashing Toro was also in close proximity at this point out wide, while Fashion Model was also staking a claim in what was a closely knit pack. Delicate Lass, meanwhile, sat some six lengths adrift as she occupied fifth place and she already had plenty of work on her plate at this early stage.

TORO TAKES CHARGE

On the approach to the third bend Magical Poppet nipped up the inside of Newport Pier, however, the eye-catcher heading into the back straight was Dashing Toro as the former Tralee 550 track-record holder displayed a lovely turn of pace to shoot into the lead. In behind, Delicate Lass was also beginning to rev her engine and the daughter of Ballymac Cashout - Hugh Dream quickly powered to within three lengths of her rivals. At this point, there was a certain inevitability surrounding the result given the finishing power that Kennedy’s lady possesses.

LASS LEADS HOME TORO

As the greyhounds entered the final two bends, Dashing Toro was in the ascendancy by just over one length from Delicate Lass, however, the flying blue crucially held the inside line and she was firmly in top gear with the winning line now in sight. Dashing Toro was staying on with real determination for the Twice-A-Day-Everyday-Syndicate, however, his heart was to be broken in the final strides as Delicate Lass completed a sensational off-the-pace performance to storm past her rival and win by a half-length. A fitting finish to another terrific renewal, the time was 41.92 .20f.