New surroundings for 2010 St Leger

WITH all its comforts and grandeur, the new Bord na gCon Greyhound Stadium in Limerick will be a fitting venue for the 2010 Kerry Agribusiness Irish St Leger, which gets underway on Friday and Saturday night.

For years, the occasion of the final of the classic in the old Markets Field Stadium was used to announce plans for a new facility. The new facility is in place since October and will be a big boost to the staging of the biggest greyhound event of the year by the Shannonside.
Another boost for the new Dock Road venue is that for the first time the final of the St Leger will be broadcast live on RTÉ television on Saturday, December 18.
“We see the lift that live TV creates every year with the key races from Shelbourne Park and Harold’s Cross,” said Adrian Neilan, CEO of The Irish Greyhound Board. “It is a great boost that Limerick will be broadcast live to the nation the week before Christmas at a time of year when our sport attracts its largest live audiences.”
Viewers across Ireland and around the world will be able to bet live into the race pools and the jackpot on the night through the Irish Greyhound Board’s interactive betting website at www.igb.ie. This year’s winner will receive €25,000 and a trophy.
An entry of 72 has been received for the classic and the opening of the competition will see an impressive 12 first-round heats, with four to qualify from each, scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, ensuring a weekend of top-class racing action at the new Limerick venue. Second-round heats will take place on Saturday, November 27, quarter-finals on Saturday, December 4 and semi-finals on Saturday, December 11, culminating in the final on December 18.
Frank Hayes, director of corporate affairs, Kerry Group said, “With the impressive new greyhound stadium in Limerick playing host to this year’s Kerry Agribusiness Irish St Leger, we look forward to high quality action-packed racing over the coming weeks and hopefully to a memorable final of the classic’s first running at the new state-of-the-art Limerick track. The new stadium and facilities at Limerick are a wonderful boost to the Mid-West region and will add enormously to the greyhound industry. It is fitting that the new stadium will host one of Ireland’s premier greyhound classics.”
The first Irish St Leger was run at the Markets Field in 1944 and the winner in 31.48 seconds was the Kilmallock owned No Relation.
Ger McKenna holds the record for the most St Leger wins with 12 to his credit. Ger’s son, Owen, has two top-class entries in the 2010 competition, Farley Blitz and Farley Turbo. Farley Turbo has recorded fantastic times, including a 28.30 over 525 yards.
Tipperary trainer Matt O’Donnell has three entries, Daring Lee, Skywalker Kim and the 2009 Bitch of the Year, Skywalker Queen. Paul Hennessy has the highest number of entries in this year’s competition; Colorful Champ, De Ex Factor, Airforce Hawk, Tranquil Time and What a Tornado.
Also included amongst the entries is Patsy Byrne’s Mustang Johnny, who won the final race at the Markets Field on July 17 last. A number of other familiar names from the Markets Field include Denis O’Malley (Ballyhannon and Rallying Caul), Michael O’Donovan (Judicial Academy), Ken Duce (Nicken Shaw) and Tarbert trainer Patrick O’Connor. Patrick trains Bellewood Prince and Christmas Box, both owned by Noreen McManus and Declan Moylan. Owner Larry O’Shea has Whats Up Jack, trained by Peter Cronin.
Competitors to note in this year’s competition are the recently in-form Confident Nestor, trained by Johnny O’Sullivan from Castleisland, and the Brian Kirwan-trained Monlesa Alsation, owned by James Hayden, who is a regular performer in Shelbourne Park. Another Shelbourne Park regular, Dolores Ruth, has one entry, Makeshift.
Dromore Dazzler, the current 550 yards record holder in Tralee and winner of the Mike Cronin Unraced in March, is also featuring in this year’s Irish St Leger.
Leading trainer Pat Buckley has four entries, Troys Expert, Hats My Boy, Slick Legend and Beaming Dilemma, who was a beaten finalist in last weekend’s Red Mills Waterford Masters. Dead heat winner of the Masters, Krug Ninety-Five is also competing and trainer Fraser Black will enter two others, Westmead Bolt and Westmead Bond. Another Masters finalist Thurlesbeg Joker competes with Fatboyz Tyson for Patrick Gordon.
Others to note include Larry Dunne’s Slippery Bob and Slippery Dale, Michael Dalton’s Express Gem, Tim Donovan’s White Signal, the Francie Murray-trained Cians Fantasy, Tip and Tin for Joe Carey, Youghal Oaks runner-up Inis Aarla and Robert Gleeson’s Hare Mat, who was a winner on the official opening night in Limerick.