Fastest time of day Prince

3 year and 8 months old and records 28.49 (fastest time of day). The Prince story keeps going on. Showing his old early pace he cleared the corner and away he went to win by 5 lengths. This was his 19 career win from 80 starts. Amazing................ Martin and Ginge have done a great job with the dog keeping him fresh of which we are most grateful.

Best Weekend of the Winter

Sadly I won't be over for the best weekends coursing as I have a prior engagement down in London to celebrate fellow syndicate member Ray's birthday. For me Lixnaw has everything, top class entry of dogs, a quality field, facilities, loads of local dogs that I know well and 5 star hospitality. It won't be the same in the Hammersmith Travel Lodge. The success of the meeting year on year is dependant on the many hours the lads put in to the field, club and hares.

In previous years I have had a runner in the local with Zig Zag Heraito(reached Semi Final) and ZigZag Pirate who was just beaten in the Final last year. The Pirate is now owned and trained by Batty Heaphy. Despite Batty's endless hours of training I don't think even he can get the Pirate to beat Jobys Gladiator in the first round of the All Aged Cup. Should he do the impossible he could well meet Owen Mckenna's Catunda Ashmore who reached the Derby Semi Final last year in Clonmel. Also in the Cup are Bigdanstheman, Daleroad Champ and Flowonlovelyriver all owned by the Lixnaw lads.

In Derby I'll go for Tomdickandharry but it looks very tough with 64 dogs in the Stake. In the Oaks I'll chance Eshway Laura and Farneys Alice.

Lets hope all the dogs come off sound and the weather stays kind.

The Razor Returns

Razor Ashmore the 2007 Derby Winner returns to action this weekend at Freshford in the all age stake. Also appearing is the 2007 winner Micro Mover. The best coursing weekend of the season is at Lixnaw kicking, oh what a meeting. I will preview that in a separate article.

Last weekend's preview threw up the new Derby Favourite in King Saunders who romped home at Milltown Malbay. The Pat Curtain trained pup is now just 10/1 for the Derby. Of the others marked down, the best we did was Racoon reaching the Quarter Final before going down to runner up To The Point. Castlemartyr proved his well being when winning the Island Cup at Island. It looks like the coursing dog of the year as another great year ahead of him.

Avenue on Track

Avenue Guide returned to action tonight at Monmore. Needing the run he showed some nice early pace before blowing up on the run for home. He was beaten by 2 lengths in 29.75. I'm sure he will be back to winning ways soon. The Prince is out tomorrow afternoon on the BAGS. I think he could also need the run but you never know.

Nice to Lance's Icemaid Snapper (29.69 FTON) and Brutus (29.71) win their heats at Coventry last night, both are now in Sundays Final which is over 625 metres. It was nice to see my eye for the pups is still there as Farloe Tico landed the odds at Nottingham on Monday night.

Weekend Ahead

More well bred pups take to the field this weekend and the one that catches the eye and appears to be flying at home is King Saunders at Milltown-Malbay. King Sanders is a full brother of last weeks Derby Stake winner Fullerton. He is out of Droopys Saunders x Fiery Mary daughter of Fiery Lucy that bred Castle Pines and Droopys Caesar. I'm sure connections will have an eye on Eshwary Valley (Ashmore View x Eshwary Girl), the full sister Itellyouruby won the Oaks Stake at Edenderry last weekend. The local lads of Lixnaw will be heading to Castleisland where coursing dog of the year makes his reappearance in the Cup. The Derby Stake looks very tough on the advanced card and breeding I'd suggest Raccoon, Bexhill Bolt or Shines Rocket in the dog stake and Vacume Glideaway or Mountain Angel in the bitch stake.

I don't tend to check the track results daily anymore due to time allowances. I did catch the St Ledger Semi Finals to see Iceman Brutus sadly eliminated behind the ever so impressive Bubblt Totti. He must win with a clear run on Tuesday. Farloe Tico caught my eye in the Puppy Competition up at Nottingham and looked to be a massive price at 8/1 for an improving pup going the right way.

Credit Crunch ..........................My Arse

My final thoughts on the weekend was how much the credit crunch had effected the coursing clans of Kerry. We worked out that over 350,000 euros had been spent by the owners of the dogs and bitches in the Oaks and Derby Stakes. With a sapling averaging over 1,000 euros with rearing, training and entry fees all on top you can't knock the committment to reach the hallowed ground of Clonmel. The pub on Sunday night was rammed with locals drinking as if it was being given away.

Early Success for the Kerry Boys

As the coursing season swings in the full season it was nice to see the dogs that have been catching the headlines in the Sporting Press. In the first week at Ballyheigue Lixnaw lad Donal O'Connoll won All Aged Bitch with Speckled Wood (Ran up Bitch Trial Stake in Lixnaw last year), Mark Ryall(reared the Prince) won the Duffer with Bigdantheman and Johnny O Keefe landed the Cup with Daleroad Champ. Over the weekend we attended the meeting at Abberdorney. Whilst the coursing was great it was no where is the class of the Lixnaw meeting. The success of the lads of Lixnaw continued when Fullerton (Droopys Sanders x Fiery Mary) won the Derby Trial Stake in great style. The dogs is owned by a local syndicate including Pawdie Lyons. Needless to say we had a few on Sunday night. I didn't quite get Pawdie local tipple of Brandy and Red. My head was booming enough on Monday morning just on the whiskey. Fingers crossed Fullerton gets to Clonmel in one piece and shows his best form. The photographs are of Paddy's 1927 Derby Trophy (White Sandhills) and the 1987 Irish Cup Trophy (Im Only Saying) both of which he bred.