TWO VALUABLE SWEEPSTAKES COME TO A CLOSE AT GALWAY

Peter Farrell

It didn’t go unnoticed that Galway Greyhound Stadium hosted two valuable sweepstake finals last Saturday night and it was Canya Dream and Caislean Blue who landed the spoils.

The feature final of the night was the €2,000 to the winner Great Blue Shark/WGOBA Tri Distance A2/A3 and this wide-open contest was landed by Canya Dream at odds of 2/1. Trained by David Flanagan for Imelda Sinclair, Canya Dream came into the final without winning a previous round but given the decider was over the extended 575-yard trip, her fast finishing exploits in previous outings saw her as the most likely to land the spoils. Running from trap two, the daughter of Droopys Sydney and Lear Avajo was typically only moderately into stride but she paced up well to turn only two lengths adrift of Pats Angela, who had pinged out to lead from trap three. Within a matter of strides, Canya Dream was on level terms with the leader but Pats Angela was to slam the door shut at the penultimate turn. However, this didn’t deter Canya Dream and she proved as game as a pheasant to hold her inside berth rounding the bottom two bends, before storming up the inside to score. Crossing the line with two and a half lengths to spare, Canya Dream was to land the brilliant €2,000 prize on offer with Knoppogue Time also finishing well to finish second, just ahead of a fading Pats Angela in third. The time was a fast 31.63 .10s.

BLEU LANDS CHEEVERS MEMORIAL

Prior to that, the final of the 2023 Ann Cheevers Memorial 525 took centre stage and this went the way of second favourite, Caislean Bleu, as he came out the right side of a judge's call.

Another who went off as the 2/1 shot in the market just behind Claudgreengrass at 7/4, Caislean Bleu didn’t come away too fluently but he showed a brilliant turn of early speed out wide to round the opening turn in second, just behind Springwell Denny who had showed the superior early gears to lead Claudgreengrass on the inside. Springwell Denny held a slender advantage down the back and it was nip and tuck on the run to the penultimate bend with little to separate the leading duo. At this point, Caislean Blue, owned by Ciaran Connelly and trained by Matthew Harte, was steering a very wide course and this made for a thrilling finish as Springwell Denny still held a half length advantage turning for home. A close finish certain, the only time Caislean Blue was in front was on the line as the son of Magical Bale and Notimetotalk put his head down the score. A brilliant conclusion to this stake, Caislean Blue won by a neck from Springwell Denny, in a time of 29.27 .10s.