Returning to the scene of his Derby TS success 12 months ago, Lower The Blade (pictured) won this season’s renewal of the Paddy Murray Memorial Ulster Cup at Ballymena (Tubbercurry) today and thereby clinched the final place in the Top 8 for the Kevin Smith Champion Stakes. Joining him in the line-up will be Aghadown Wonder which added the All Age at Clonakilty to the 32 runner All Age he had already won at Regional back in November. Double joy of course for the Collins family as results today mean they will also be travelling to Clonmel on February 7th with Aghadown Berry for the Champion Bitch Stake.
A brilliant third success of the season at Clonakilty for Wiseguy Becky has propelled her into second place on the leaderboard for the Grace & Matt Bruton Champion Bitch Stake. Just one place behind her is Off Piste which won a valuable 4 points by running up the Ulster Cup. Both of these bitches narrowly failed to qualify for the Oaks last season so connections will be delighted to have made amends. Just missing out on a Top 8 position but filling the first reserve position is today’s Sevenhouses All Age Cup winner Zooming. We will now be writing to connections of the Top 12 in both Champion Stakes and asking them to confirm availability by next Friday January 20th.
As expected Sean Doyle & Paula Minogue (Ennis) will be in control of the Sporting Press Fantasy Coursing leaderboard as we head to Clonmel. They occupy the first 12 positions followed by Sally Mounsey on 400 points and Marie Field on 385 points. Busy Man, Express Razor, Aghadown Wonder and Cloncunny Wonder will be the trump cards for Sean & Paula and Paula also has Lower The Blade in one selection. However with the likes of Kyle Honour, Derby Wonder, Sammy Be and Excelerate featuring in the selections of their nearest rivals and 380 points to be won, this could still be very interesting.
| Leaderboards To 15/01/23 | |||
| Kevin Smith Champion Stakes | |||
| Greyhound | Points | Prizemoney | |
| 1 | Dresden Dingo | 17 | 6,600 |
| 2 | Busy Man | 15 | 4,500 |
| 3 | Kyle Honour | 15 | 4,150 |
| 4 | Express Razor | 13 | 4,000 |
| 5 | Derby Wonder | 12 | 4,550 |
| Jt 6 | Aghadown Wonder | 12 | 4,000 |
| Jt 6 | Sammy Be | 12 | 4,000 |
| 8 | Lower The Blade | 12 | 2,990 |
| 9 | Rossmore Champ | 10 | 2,415 |
| 10 | Hermes | 9 | 4,000 |
| 11 | Ballymac Tudor | 9 | 2,600 |
| 12 | Quivers Benny | 9 | 2,550 |
| Grace & Matt Bruton Champion Bitch Stakes | |||
| Greyhound | Points | Prizemoney | |
| 1 | Howdylittlelady | 14 | 4,600 |
| 2 | Wiseguy Becky | 12 | 3,200 |
| 3 | Off Piste | 10.5 | 2,450 |
| 4 | Fate Intervenes | 10 | 3,150 |
| 5 | Cloncunny Wonder | 10 | 3,120 |
| 6 | Excelerate | 9.5 | 2,300 |
| 7 | Aghadown Berry | 9 | 2,950 |
| 8 | Ocean Kerrie | 9 | 2,750 |
| 9 | Zooming | 9 | 2,500 |
| 10 | Arena Rose | 8.5 | 3,000 |
| 11 | Ballymac Floral | 8 | 2,650 |
| 12 | Needham Vacation | 8 | 2,200 |
| Sporting Press Fantasy Coursing Competition | |||
| Name | Points | ||
| Jt 1 | Sean Doyle, Ennis | 455 | |
| Jt 1 | Sean Doyle,Ennis | 455 | |
| Jt 1 | Sean Doyle,Ennis | 455 | |
| Jt 1 | Sean Doyle,Ennis | 455 | |
| Jt 1 | Sean Doyle,Ennis | 455 |