THERE were the usual shocks in the opening session of the second round of the Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park last night when Owen McKenna’s Farley Blitz ran out a decisive winner of what was expected to be a real cliffhanger.

FOLLOWING the luxury of four qualifying from all first round heats, the pressure will begin in the Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby this evening at Shelbourne when it will be just three to survive to the third round.

SHEEPWALK Mac maintained his tremendous record around Dundalk’s testing 400 yards course when winning the semi-final of the two-bend classic, the Bar One Racing Irish Sprint Cup on Monday night and he will be bidding for a sixth success on the trot in next Sunday’s final.

THE first heats in the 2010 Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby will be run at Shelbourne Park tonight and a sensational start looks on the cards with many of the leading fancies in action.

THE draw for the Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby was made a Shelbourne Park yesterday morning and it worked out pretty fair for virtually all the leading fancies.

IT is every greyhound person’s dream to have a runner in the Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby but Galway owner P.J. Fahy is not the typical owner.

THE Irish Greyhound Board yesterday announced a new tiered format for the allocation of race grants which is basically designed to encourage better class racing on all tracks.

There’s no doubt about the big event on the Irish greyhound calendar this week, it just has to be Saturday’s Town View Foods Champion Stakes final at Shelbourne Park.

ON what was an extremely busy Monday night in Irish greyhound racing, Michael Frayne’s Clearview Kelly set a strong pace when winning her first round heat in the Premier Fantasy Southern Oaks at Youghal.

The best wine was certainly kept to last when the draw for the heats of the Town View Foods Champion Stakes was made at Shelbourne yesterday.