All the stats that matter from the opening round of the Irish Derby

THE 2026 BOYLE Sports Irish Derby is under way with Bouncing Monarch and Sleight Of Hand taking top first round honours on the clock with identical 29.10sec heat winning times on Saturday.

The pair were very closely matched to the third bend as well with the official sectionals from that point showing that Sleight Of Hand went through the mark in 16.90sec, a mere one spot quicker than Bouncing Monarch's figure.

The 17.00sec third bend barrier was only broken six times in the 2025 Irish Derby - eventual winner Cheap Sandwiches fastest in the semi-finals with a superb 16.84sec - but Ballyea Warrior (16.95sec) and Friday's fastest Solo And Go (16.98sec) also dipped under it in round one.

Incidentally, the best-ever third bend time came in 2024 when eventual champion Bockos Diamond clocked a ridiculous 16.58sec in the semi-final as he equalled his own 28.94sec track record for Shelbourne's 550 yards course.

Graham Holland's near-veteran was sixth fastest this time when posting 17.03sec on his way to one of four heat victories for the record five-times winning Irish Derby trainer, a first round tally matched by Liam Dowling.

The average winning heat time in round one was 29.44sec with outside traps faring best - 11 of 24 heat scorers were drawn in T5 or T6.

The average winning SP was 4.25/1 with one-third of the heats going to the market leader.