From: news

Fantasy – A three way divide

For the first time in the 24 year history of our Sporting Press Fantasy Coursing competition we had three selections equal on points (805) on top of the leaderboard at the finish. Technically that is the case but the Roll of Honour will only show two names because Michael McMahon from Ballybunion is in the fortunate position of being in there twice. In recent seasons Michael often got a mention for being on top or near the top of the leaderboard but we think this is the first time that he has collected a prize. The total prizemoney fund was €7,000 (€5,000 – €1,500 – €500) so Michael will receive 2/3 of this amount which equates to €4,700. The other 1/3 €2,350 goes to a young man who was on the podium back in 2009, Ian Bourke from Oola. Since then we have often engaged Ian to give us his National Meeting & Irish Cup predictions for the Sporting Press and he is never too far away. Michael & Ian will now be invited to the Irish Coursing Club Awards in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Limerick on April 14th to accept their cheques.
As has occasionally happened in the past there was little or no movement on the Fantasy leaderboard at the Irish Cup meeting. Two pups made it into the final of the Irish Cup itself and another pup won the Patsy Byrne Select Bitch Stake. The only worry Michael & Ian had was that Jamess Treasure might win as that would have a massive result for Stephen Gollogly, Armagh on 720 points. How often must Stephen have watched the re-run of that exciting semi-final between Watchman & Jamess Treasure. A good few near the top of the leaderboard had Jamaica Judy but for most of them she was the one which wasn’t counting (only seven of the eight selections count) as the 2017 Oaks semi-finalist had no points going to Limerick. Therefore even if she had won the final against Mad Decision it wouldn’t have had a major effect on the result.
There was another very close finish to our Fantasy Coursing for Charity competition with Co Carlow coursing club’s Caoimhe Cullen (630 points) just hanging on to victory by 10 points over Shane Curtin (Abbeyfeale) and Mary Guiney (Rathkeale). We will be presenting Caoimhe with a cheque for €1,000 to give to her chosen charity at the ICC Awards. Our sincere thanks to an anonymous sponsor for this lovely prize which is always much appreciated by the winner. Caoimhe was still unsure of her victory heading to Limerick racecourse on the Sunday as Grainne Herbert (Kilflynn) with 580 points still had two selections, Ashmore Rocket & Dromtullabeg, running extremely well in the Irish Cup. However by the first interval we knew our winner. Many thanks to all those who agreed to participate in the separate ‘charity’ competition this season.
Our photo shows Dicks Bimbo which amassed 190 Fantasy Points followed by Kyle Mozart on 170.

Gerry wins Clonmel Tipster prize
We had a seven way tie on 40 points in our ICC website Clonmel Tipster competition.
All seven names went into a hat and in the bookmakers ring during the second interval on the final day of the Irish Cup we asked Sarah Jane Doyle from Ennis to pick out a winner.
The name drawn was Gerry Meehan from Kiskeam, Co Cork.
Gerry was thrilled to hear he had won and opted for the prize of a 12 month subscription to the Sporting Press.
For the record his selections for Clonmel were: Silent Whisper – Silent Wonder- Kyle Mozart – Bexhill Anna
A big thank you to all who participated.