FESTIVAL REALLY DEVLIVERED AT GLORIOUS KILKENNY

Ian Fortune

There was no better place to be on Sunday evening than Kilkenny track as the inaugural Festival of Racing, sponsored by John Mitchell and the KGOBA, provided some exceptional racing and a wonderful atmosphere on one of the most glorious evenings of the year.

The sun shone bright throughout and the action on the track mirrored the weather conditions. The evergreen Monbeg Zinzan set the tone in the opener, posting a useful 40.89 for the 725yd trip while the in-form Murt Leahy recorded a wonderful treble.

A NIGHT FOR SYNDICATES

One of the things to take out of the evening was also the amount of syndicate owned greyhounds to emerge triumphant.

In fact, eight of the ten winners were owned by syndicates, highlighting their effectiveness in allowing a group of friends to get their hands on a useful greyhound without spending the world.

ARTISAN PRODUCES THE RUN OF THE NIGHT

One of said syndicate owned greyhounds was Droopy Artisan.

A former UK based racer, he produced the run of the night in the penultimate race, an Open 525. The John Linehan trained son of Tullymurry Act was having just his third start on Irish soil but he ran out a brilliant scorer in a rapid 28.62, the fastest time recorded at Kilkenny since September 2020.

Owned by the Courtmachove Syndicate, he was never far of the pace before powering through in the closing stages to win by a length and a half from the long-time leader Its All Over in 28.62.

A TREBLE FOR MURT

Murt Leahy’s treble came with Sawdust Good Job, Lilywhite Queen and Warzone Milo.

Sawdust Good Job emerged a good winner of the unraced final, leading down the back straight to contain Footfield Siren by a half length in 29.14. Warzone Milo actually brough the curtains down on proceedings, claiming a length victory over Boothebest in 29.12.

Hare Larey was an exciting winner of the A1 final. The Thomas Buggy trained son of Laughil Blake really powered home to score by five lengths in 28.98.  

Fortuneate Duo was a fast finishing winner of the A3 final, coming home a length and a half to the good in 29.09, while one of the feature races on the card, the John Mitchell Bookmaker and KGOBA Open 525 saw Flaminmoneybags claim a narrow victory over Born Warrior.

A REAL SUCCESS

All in all, it was a tremendous evening and hopefully we can look forward to another successful Festival of Racing in 2023.

Well done to all involved for making it a real success.