GROUND STAFF THE REAL WINNERS AT SHELBOURNE

Ian Fortune

The fact that there was even racing at Shelbourne Park on Friday night comes down to the ground staff and the racing office.

So much work went into getting the track cleared and safe for racing and, while the times were a long way back from where they would normally be, everything went off without a hitch.

MADE IT MAKES ALL

There were two finals up or decision and both went as predicted.

Hes Made It was the 5/4 favourite in the final of the Retired Greyhound Trust A2 525 and his early speed carried him clear in the opening yards.

The Shaun Conway trained son of Good News and Shes Made It was razor-sharp at boxes and was soon in complete command. Handling the wet conditions with minimum fuss, the Richard Nugent and Richard Guiton owned speedster emerged a deserving nine length winner over Stuie Griffin in 30.41 on a track conservatively rated 1.20sec slow.

PRINCE OVERCOMES HARDSHIP

Maireads Prince had to work considerably harder for victory in the final of the Barking Buzz App A1/A2 525, although he eventually justified his 4-7 starting price.

The Fraser Black trained son of Droopys Sydney and Clona Skye missed the start, found traffic on the turn and was only third into the back straight behind the pace-setting Ravenswood Chica but, once finding room, he quickly moved through the gears.

Going second down the back straight, Joe Horan’s promising youngster closed rapidly on the leader to strike the front between the last two bends. From there he raced right away to eventually come home five lengths clear in 30.56 (1.20sec slow).