Monarch and Sleight top the bill in Irish Derby first round heats

BOUNCING MONARCH and Sleight Of Hand both produced sensational runs to jointly-set the first round standard in the BOYLE Sports Irish Greyhound Derby over 550 yards at Shelbourne Park.

Michael O'Donovan's Kirby Memorial champion Bouncing Monarch opened Saturday's session with a heat 13 demolition ob.

Sent off the 1/5 favourite, he made even those odds look generous as he led early and proceeded to pull right away, ultimately scoring by 11 and a half lengths in a brilliant 29.10sec.

Some two and a half hours later, the Laurence Jones-trained Sleight Of Hand matched the time as he landed quite a gamble in heat 23.

Backed from 11/4 into 11/8, he got first run on odds-on Wi Can James as he went on to score by three and a half lengths.

It was quite the night for trainer O'Donovan who completed a treble courtesy of Skywalker Bruno (29.63sec) and Hackney Dancer (29.37sec), while there were doubles for Paul Hennessy and Karol Ramsbottom.

The last-named's victory in the final heat saw his 20/1 chance Amidus Hulk (29.65sec) lead home 100/1 Grangeview Rocko in a major shock with Derby champion Lennies Eddie just scraping through in fourth and highly-touted Ballymac Setanta eliminated.

His trainer, Liam Dowling, had enjoyed far better fortune in the opening batch of first round heats 24 hours earlier when landing a treble kick-started by a best-of-night 29.27sec from Solo And Go and completed by Ballymac Kamala (29.58sec) and Ballymac Gwennie (29.31sec).

Record five-times winner Irish Derby trainer Graham Holland doubled up with his Low Profile (29.46sec) taking heat nine immediately followed by 2024 champion Bockos Diamond rolling back the years with a dominant heat ten victory in 29.40sec.