Brandywell Greyhounds: Oliver’s Fagans Plazzo spring heeled in Gazelle Sprint

The three semi-finals of the Gazelle Sprint were the feature events on Monday evening’s 7 race programme at Brandywell.

Urneys Tricks (Droopys Noah x Droopys Maud, Apr ’21) lost his maiden tag in his 12th career start when he landed the first semi-final of the Gazelle Sprint in 17.15 for Kevin O’Kane. Moderately away from trap 3, he showed good pace to be jostling for the lead as the field approached the first bend. Tricks ran a strong bend on the outside of early leader Leathams Lotto and stayed on well up the home straight to hold off his rival by 1 length.

Oliver Canavan’s Fagans Plazzo (Droopys Sydney x Fagans Venus, May ’21) won the second semi-final in 16.85, which was the fastest time of the Gazelle Sprint competition.

He was well away from trap 1 and held his position on the inside of the early leader Willseanrun as they rounded the bends. Buff Egan was making good progress in behind the leading pair but he swung wide off the second bend and this allowed Plazzo to open up a comfortable 2.75 length advantage over the running on Egan at the finish line. Plazzo has had a good start to his career with 2 wins from only 5 starts.

The only 2020 whelp to qualify for the final of the Gazelle Sprint was Shea Cassidy’s Ats Incredible (Jaytee Jet x Funny Pippa, Nov ’20).

She is lightly raced for her age and her success in the third semi-final brought her career tally to 3 wins from only 9 starts. Incredible used her trap 6 draw to full advantage and ran terrific bends on the outside of early leader Brandywell Pride to open up a decisive lead.

Race 7 at Brandywell was won by YARN TELLER. Pictured with winning connection Tommy Connor (centre). We welcomed visitors from France; Agnes Maxime (right) and son Antoine (left).

Pride was staying on well again as the finish line approached but Incredible still had 1.5 lengths in hand over her rival and she clocked a decent 16.91.

Supporting Brandywell Race Programme

Aiden Cullen’s Shesanicelady (Droopys Sydney x Mt Heaton Daisy, Mar ’21) followed up on her Brandywell track debut win last week with another top performance in the fourth race in a similar fashion to her last win.

Once again she took an early lead from trap 1 and was never headed, proving this 500 yard trip suits her perfectly. She clocked a fast 27.64 with 3 lengths to spare over a running on Ellabbie and this was an improvement on her 27.78 clock last week.

The fifth race over 525 yards was one of changing fortunes with less than 2 lengths covering the whole field at the finish. Generous Story cut out the early pace but William Mullan’s Rosshill Wildcat (Dorotas Wildcat x Fast Fit Maeve, Jul ’21) kept the leader in his sights and made his winning move at the third bend when driving up the inside of Story to take up a lead that he held by a neck from the fast finishing Bashful Orla. Wildcat is in top form winning 2 of his last 3 races.

The O’Neills 500 yards was the sixth race on the programme and Gary Simpson’s ex-Galway hound, Cardi Ekin (Broadstrand Bono x Glideaway Babe, Jun ’21) showed great tenacity to win. She was fast away from trap 6 and had a narrow lead going into the first bend where she got shuffled back through the pack into a share of second place.

The 1st semi-final of the Gazelle Sprint was won by URNEYS TRICKS. Pictured with Kealan O’Kane & Ronan Wray.

Approaching the third bend she was only lying in third place and it looked like her chance of victory had been lost. But she wasn’t to be denied and came storming up the home straight, bravely cutting between the leading pair to get the better of them by 0.5 lengths, clocking 29.25. It looks like there is plenty more to come from Cardi given a clear run.

We reverted back to sprint action for the last race on the programme and Jim Connor’s Yarn Teller (Farloe Rumble x Caw Caw, Jan ’20) showed her liking for the Brandywell circuit once again. Racing from her favoured 6 box, she flew the lids and ran out a comfortable 1.25 length winner in 16.73 against consistent track specialists Generous Pixie and Riada Ice who were second and third respectively. Yarn Teller has an impressive 100% success rate at Brandywell, raced twice, won twice.

Action from Lifford Greyhound Stadium

The standout contest last week was the final of GMK - Gallagher & McKinney A3/A4 525, worth €600 to the winner. The standard was set in the opening round by Blackstone Range and the Michael and Joe Calvert-owned bitch continued her rich vein of form, albeit thanks to a huge slice of luck. A poor break from the normally fast-starting daughter of Out Of Range saw her trail the field but with crowding ahead of her at the opening corner, Blackstone Range was granted a clear passage and she duly grabbed her opportunity with both paws. Running out a two and a half length winner over Velvet Jenny in second, the time for Blackstone Range was 29.81. 

One To Watch

A greyhound who is certain to dip his paws into open class company sooner rather than later is the Hugh Mallon-owned Dapper Davy. After qualifying with 29.11 in Dundalk, the son of Droopys Sydney had obvious talent straight from the off and he showed fine speed to land an A3 525 on Friday night. Running from trap three, Dapper Davy was a 7/4 chance in the market but handed Hillstreet Puma some seven lengths of a start on this occasion.

Edging closer at the midway point, Mallon’s charge came home with a wet sail to storm past the long-time leader and win by two lengths. The time was a fast 29.11.

Special Mentions

Two greyhounds who made it back-to-back wins at Lifford over the weekend were Coologue Fred and Whodoyoucollar. Owned by Michael Farrell, Coologue Fred had been luckless in many of his eighteen starts prior to tasting victory last time out at Lifford but the penny looks to have dropped for the son of Droopys Noah as he was spring-like from traps and went on to win comfortably in a fast 17.88.

Meanwhile, the Nigel McGarry-owned Whodoyoucollar is a very promising type and the February 22’ whelp got off the mark in fine style when clocking 29.47 last time out.

On Sunday however, the daughter of Broadstrand Bono upped the ante as she once again stayed on strongly to win by a comprehensive three and a half lengths. Her time on this occasion was 29.39 and she has a bright future ahead of her.