GALWAY SUPPORTING CARD CAN SEE QUEEN CLAIM THE HONOURS

Peter Farrell

While the Connacht Derby serves as the headline act at Galway, there is brilliant action throughout the card, with the final of the Merlin Bar A2/A3 Bitch 525 topping the bill.

Kindly sponsored by Merlin Bar, the €2,500-to-the-winner decider features some fine ladies, but the standout may well be Avenue Queen. Trained by Brian Robinson, his long trip from Tyrone has paid dividends in recent weeks, with the daughter of King Elvis the only unbeaten runner in the final. A winner of five from thirteen, she has been rewarded for two terrific performances with a trap two draw and will be fancied to secure a hat-trick. That said, she may well be forced to do it the hard way given the early pace in this lineup. Chief among the front-runners is Sheezatwister, the Corona Ryan-trained star who blitzed her rivals to win in 29.00 last time out. On that occasion, the well-bred daughter of Magical Bale posted a swift 3.27 sectional, and she again dons the black jacket in the final. Another fast start and she will surely race prominently. Outside of the fancied pair, Jasmins Coco has live claims after she built on her 29.00 victory in round one with a third-place finish in the semis, while Burnpark Class is better housed in red as she bids to go one better than three recent bridesmaid finishes. Leeanne Fleming is double-handed in the final with Hanover Mellie and Hanover Luna, the former looking the trump card for the kennel. Both are well-seasoned around Galway and it would be foolish to dismiss either.

Overall, this is another red-hot contest where opinion will be split. However, Avenue Queen looks to have settled brilliantly into her Galway surroundings and is the most likely to break that magical 29-second barrier.

I.R.G.T NOVICE FINAL

The second of the finals on the card is the I.R.G.T ON2/ON3 525, and this looks set to be a shoot-out between Annadown Elliot and Oyster Boy.

Although Annadown Elliot enters the final as the only unbeaten runner, the likely favourite is Oyster Boy after a scintillating 29.08 victory last time out. The son of Grangeview Ten, a July ’24 whelp, was flawless on that occasion, justifying 4/7 favouritism to cross the line six and a half lengths clear of Crafty Merino. On that evidence, he will take a bit of stopping from a handy draw in trap three. Annadown Elliot is the obvious threat. Gerry Dillon’s tracker has compiled an aggregate winning margin of eight lengths from his two victories so far, and he is superbly housed in red. The September whelp has huge scope for improvement and rates as a major player in the final. Outside of the fancied pair, Short Blue could provide a podium finish for trainer Leo McNulty.

IXBET TOUR SERIES SEMIS

The semi-finals of the €5,000-to-the-winner 1XBet Tour Series A3 525 take centre stage tonight, with a wide-open contest setting the scene ahead of next weekend’s final.

The opening semi features the two fastest first-round winners in Gealltanas Jack and Drombeg King, who posted 29.12 and 29.22 victories respectively last time out. Of the pair, Gealltanas Jack boasts the early sectional to get first run on his rival and shouldn’t be far away from trap four. That said, Noelles Bebeto also merits respect. Although he suffered a troublesome passage last outing, there is no doubt more is to come, and tonight could be the night for the Divilly charge.

In the second semi, Hudson will look to get back to winning ways after finding no answer to Droopys Bugle last weekend. On that occasion, Patrick Norris’ greyhound was stepping back up to four bends and should have gained plenty from the experience, leaving him primed to improve tonight. Drawn in five, Hudson is favoured to get first run on the likes of Amorim, Kirk Michael, and Droopys Bugle.