WILLIE MAHER MEMORIAL DECIDER ON OFFER AT THURLES

Peter Farrell

There’s another cracking final on offer at Thurles Greyhound Stadium tonight as the Willie Maher Memorial A3/A4 525 takes centre stage, with a handsome €2,700 winner’s prize up for grabs.

Kindly sponsored by the Maher Family, this competition rarely fails to deliver and we arrive at the decider with a terrific line-up, many of whom will fancy their chances of landing the spoils. Text Amiright comes into the final as the only unbeaten runner for Daniel Maher and has proven himself a model of consistency and versatility, winning seven of his twelve starts to date while making the podium on every occasion. A son of Ballymac Cashout, 'Text' has progressed with relative ease through the competition, posting a fastest clock of 29.05 .40s, and he looks the one to beat from a favourable draw as the sole middle seed in trap six. His chief threat appears to be Ruairi Dwan's Borna Wisp. The daughter of Signet Ace landed her semi-final in 29.28 .20s, making every inch of the running after a lightning-fast 1.71 sectional. She looks certain to race prominently once again and, if trapping on terms, has an excellent draw in trap two from which to assert. Cabra Chief is another who looks ideally housed in trap one, provided he can make better use of the draw than he did in the semi-finals. Paddy Scally's charge is usually electric at traprise but posted a below-par 1.82 sectional last week, a figure he is unlikely to repeat. Indeed, if he can return to the sub-1.70 split times he has shown previously, he will be a major player. The remainder all have legitimate claims of making the frame. Toms John Deere is still learning his trade for David Flanagan and has dipped under the 29-second mark in estimated terms in two of his last three starts, while Ballyduag Ciano is the least experienced runner in the line-up and remains open to significant improvement for Thomas and James Russell. Meanwhile, Whizzing Annie is likely to be finishing stronger than anything for Adam Hogg. The experienced campaigner will be hoping for plenty of traffic ahead of her before launching her customary late charge in the closing stages.