Limerick dogs Clonbrien Hero and Slippy Cian in Irish Greyhound Derby Final

TWO Limerick runners remain in contention for the €140,000 first prize in the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby ahead of Saturday night’s final in Shelbourne Park.

Both Slippy Cian and Clonbrien Hero qualified from the same semi final heat last weekend.

Both are trained in Golden, Tipperary by Graham Holland, who has three of the six going to the traps in the final.

Slippy Cian, a joint 5/3 favourite, is owned by the Limerick based Full House syndicate. It’s almost two years since the syndicate hit the headlines when another of their stars Clares Rocket was kidnapped for ransom.

Slippy Cian won last Saturday’s second semi final – needing a photo finish to pip Ballyanne Sim, with Clonbrien Hero back in third.

Clonbrien Hero, owned in the parish of Dromin-Athlacca by Kay Murphy, won the Limerick Derby trial back in July. 

Earlier in the Summer, Clonbrien Hero collected the first prize of €15,000 in Tralee in the Kerry GAA Supporters Race of Champions. Already a winner of the Produce Stakes, the Laurels, Night of Stars and Limerick’s Irish St Leger, that win brought the Clonbrien Hero winnings to over €100,000.

The final of Irish greyhound racing’s biggest event – now in its 87th year – will be broadcast live on RTE 2, from 8pm to 9.30pm.

This is the fifth year of BoyleSports sponsorship of the classic event, which has been running since 1928, receiving classic status in 1932. The competition, which is run over a distance of 550yds, takes place in Shelbourne Park, Dublin, and was won in 2017 by Good News.

The total prize fund for the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby 2018 is €300,000. Of the €300,000 the winner will receive €140,000 and a commemorative trophy.

Under the Irish Greyhound Board’s innovative prize money scheme, the breeder of the winner will receive €14,000 (10% of the winner’s prize) and if the winner is trained by a licensed public trainer he or she will also receive €14,000 (10% of the winner’s prize). The Irish Retired Greyhound Trust will also receive 2% of winning prize money from the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby 2018.