Excitement Fills Shelbourne Park As Judges Call Dead-Heat In Sporting Press Irish Oaks Final
Sarah Kinsella
Excitement Fills Shelbourne Park As Judges Call Dead-Heat In Sporting Press Irish Oaks Final
A Lucky Julie & Fleadh Saraide Queens of the Park
Press Release
The judges were unable to split A Lucky Julie and Fleadh Sariade in the 2024 Sporting Press Online Edition Irish Oaks final on Saturday night resulting in a dead-heat.
The 14/1 outsider Fleadh Saraide set a soaring gallop and looked a winner in the early stages of the race, but A Lucky Julie was chasing her down stride after stride, along with Droopys Edel too.
Coming to the line the Murt Leahy trained Fleadh Saraide looked like she had the race in the bag, but A Lucky Julie just wouldn’t back down for trainer Jerry Melia with the pair of them crossing the line together.
After a long wait, the result was announced, and it was a dead-heat as the judges just couldn’t split them. The Ian Reilly trained Droopys Edel was half a length behind them having ran a huge race. It will go down in history as one of the most dramatic Irish Oaks we have ever witnessed.
Around the Country
There was plenty of excellent racing at some of our other stadia including the 2024 Callaway Pro Am @ Stud Race of Champions final at the Kingdom Greyhound Stadium.
Kerry
The Pat Buckley trained Coolavanny Otto claimed the €15,000 in tremendous fashion as he had to come from behind to pick up Laurels winner High Trend. Lee Strand winner Dashing Toro managed to grab second place for David O’Flaherty and the winning time was 29.38 for the 550 yards.
Cork
The 2024 Denis Linehan Solicitors Open Unraced kicked off at Curreheen Park with the Owen McKenna trained Callaway Knegare catching the eye on debut as he clocked a stunning 28.17 coming from behind. He is one to watch out for. Randolph Scotts (28.29) for Peter Cronin and Droopys Plunge (28.42) for John A. Linehan were other heats winners that caught the eye.
Limerick
The second round of the TIME Greyhound Nutrition A4 Confined Derby took place at Limerick Greyhound Stadium with some fast heat winners eliminated as they done too fast of a time (under the competition time finding rule). It’s a fantastic and unique competition with a whopping €20,000 up for grabs. It attracted a huge entry list and this week the restrictions have been lifted so there will be no more eliminations. Results and times can be found here.
Clonmel
We now know the finalists of the 2024 KASKO National Produce Stakes which will take place on Sunday in Clonmel. Romeo Taylor won the first heat in 28.44 and In Good Time won the second semi-final in 28.73. A full report can be found here.
Mullingar
The opening round of the Pat Curtin Memorial Cup A4/A5 started at Mullingar Greyhound Stadium with Clonfert Annie the fastest heat winner in 29.08 for trainer/owner John Young. All results can be found here.
English Greyhound Derby
The Irish are continuing their dominance in the English Greyhound Derby with Talking Dogs Ian Fortune providing a full report on the results from Saturday night. The Paul Hennessy trained Boylesports Bob ran a cracker to win his heat with the likes of The Other Kobe and Gaytime Nemo still here. Best of luck to all the runners in the semi-final as we have six of the remaining twelve. Report.
Pictured: Seamus Begley presents the trophy to Murt Leahy and Damien Matthews presents the trophy to Gerry Melia after A Lucky Julie and Fleadh Saraide dead heated in the final of the Sporting Press Online Edition Irish Oaks. Also pictured are DJ Histon CEO ICC, Mary Melia and Colette Ennis and connections. Image by Sarah Kinsella.
Additional pictures on request.
Sarah Kinsella, spokesperson for Greyhound Racing Ireland, said: “Wow. What a brilliant weekend of racing. A dead-heat in the Irish Oaks was the last thing we expected but well done to the connections. This race will be spoken about for years to come, and I can’t wait to see what these ladies go on to win in the coming months.”
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