The week started on a very encouraging note with news of Red Mills’ sponsorship of the Irish Laurels at Curraheen Park for a three year period. It is a great boost for the sport in the south and will allow all involved to plan well into the future.

A day can be a long time in greyhound racing and it was never better exemplified than on Tuesday night at Wimbledon where an Irish monopoly on the Williamhill.com English Derby was reduced to a strong Irish participation as two of our top fancies Mesedo Blue and Barefoot Bullet went crashing out of the classic.

The Williamhill.com English Derby will reach the semi-final stage next Saturday when the third round is run at Wimbledon and hopes of an Irish victory in the classic are sky high following another very successful weekend for the raiding party.

THE Hegarty Bookmakers 600 dominates the home racing scene this week but there will also be huge interest in the progress of our numerically very strong team which will be on duty in the second round of the Williamhill.com English Derby at Wimbledon.