JIM BY TWO CROWNED CENTENARY AGRI TIPPERARY CUP CHAMPION

Peter Farrell

There was a huge €7,200 up for grabs at Thurles Greyhound Stadium on Wednesday night as the final of the Centenary Agri Tipperary Cup came to a head and it proved a thrilling encounter as the determined Jim By Two saved his best performance to last.

Incredibly, Jim By Two was in fact the final entry to go into the hat for this prestigious event and it certainly paid dividends for his Kerry handler, Brendan Maunsell. Indeed, the son of Droopys Sydney had been threatening a massive performance in this event having displayed eye-catching back straight pace in the semis, before eventually finishing third behind Borna Thyme. Rewarded for that effort with a plumb draw in red in the decider, this was to ultimately prove decisive for ‘Jim’.

A wide-open decider saw both Borna Thyme and Cagey Billy installed as the 2/1 joint favourites, while Tarsna Maasai was next best in the market at odds of 5/2. Thereafter, it was 3/1 the field with opinions very much split ahead of the showpiece. At traprise, it was Borna Thyme that just edged the field, however, a level pack saw the draw prove crucial and this allowed Jim By Two to hold all the aces on the rails.

Jointly owned by Noel Griffin and Peter Kelly, the Tralee raider railed tightly at this point and he rounded the opener in front as traffic ensured on the outside. Holding a three length lead down the back, it was Borna Thyme that set off in chase, however, Cagey Billy, who hadn’t gained the clearest of passages early doors, was showing a sizzling turn of speed and he quickly improved into second. At this point, ‘Billy’ emerged a huge threat, however, Jim By Two wasn’t to be denied his moment of glory. While the lead was halved to a little over one length rounding the bottom two bends, the classy black pulled out all the stops on the run for home to fend off Cagey Billy. Just a head separating the pair crossing the line, it was a fitting conclusion to another brilliant renewal, which was kindly sponsored once again by Centenary Agri of Thurles. Moorstown Knight also played his part in a thrilling decider as he too finished at a rate of knots, just one length further back in third. The time was an excellent 28.91.

*****

VIPER SHAKES THE CLOCK

The stage was set for a fantastic night of racing in the curtain raiser as Borna Viper won in spectacular fashion as he went just three spots off of Donation’s track record for the 570-yards.

Owned by The-Borna-Syndicate, Borna Viper just recently turned two, however, he has now notched five wins from fourteen starts. A striking 80-pounder, the son of Black Parachute - Borna Aoife had been keeping fine company in recent starts and was returning from a couple of fine efforts over the marathon trip at HQ. Drawn in six, the 5/2 chance didn’t break too fluently from his wide berth, however, showed a fine turn of early speed to round the opener in second behind Holiday Beebee in five. Quickly getting on terms with the early pace-maker, ‘Viper’ swept to the front rounding the third bend and it was all one-way traffic thereafter. Upping the ante at this point, Borna Viper showed brilliant stamina as he romped to a four length victory crossing the line. The time was a thunderous 31.00, just three spots off the track record.