Heiress sees off Sandwiches in a true Shelbourne Derby classic

EVEN in the absence of the apparent leading man, withdrawn reigning champion Bockos Diamond, Cheap Sandwiches and Proper Heiress produced the race of this year's, and arguably many before, BOYLE Sports Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park on Saturday.

Cheap Sandwiches was a strongly-supported 1/2 favourite for heat three of the third round but his backers had reckoned without UK star Proper Heiress with Mark Wallis' charge producing by far his best run of the competition to date.

A decent start proved key as Proper Heiress held the inside line and led into the back straight with Cheap Sandwiches on his shoulder and straining every sinew to challenge.

He got alongside at three-quarters but that was as good as it got and Proper Heiress powered on for a length victory in a best-of-night 29.27sec although Cheap Sandwiches is now the outright favourite at 5/2 with BOYLE Sports following the quarter-final draw.

Shock of the night was the elimination of Bombay Pat who could finish only fourth behind Liam Dowling's Ballymac Stud (29.35sec) in heat four after early travails, while Karol Ramsbottom's Cheque For Cash emulated Proper Heiress by maintaining his unbeaten record in the Classic with a 29.58sec heat seven victory,.

That matched the time of Pat Buckley's Unanimous Leo in the opener, the trainer immediately doubling up when the newly-renamed Singalong Curly took heat two in 29.52sec.

Other heat winners were Kieran Lynch's Shanahee Boomer (29.42sec), Pat Guilfoyle's (29.51sec) and Robert Gleeson's Droopys Deploy (29.91sec)

Saturday's quarter-finals (with outright prices from the sponsor, e-w 1/4 1,2,3,4) - first: 1 Priceless Romeo 33/1 2 Lennies Dream 25/1, 3 Callaway Five 25/1, 4 Unanimous Leo 20/1, 5 Cheap Sandwiches (w) 5/2, 6 Droopys Deploy (w) 33/1.

Second: 1 Magical Mag 20/1, 2 Happy Jet 100/1, 3 Ballymac Stud 8/1, 4 Shanahee Boomer 14/1, 5 Blastoff Heffo 100/1, 6 Tarsna Maasai (w) 100/1.

Third: 1 Proper Heiress 7/2, 2 Singalong Curly 25/1, 3 Phoenix Memphis 100/1, 4 Cheque For Cash 33/1, 5 Glengar Silent 12/1 (m), 6 Magical Sapphire (w) 50/1.

Forth: 1 Ballyhooly Bruno 50/1, 2 Barefoot On Song 33/1, 3 Oreo Ollie 40/1, 4 De Lahdedah 10/1, 5 Rural Pest 25/1 (m), 6 Coosane Pickles (w) 33/1.