TWO dogs harbouring genuine hopes of outright honours clashed in Saturday night’s second round of the Pat Hennerty Sales Irish Laurels, and Rockchase Bullet wowed the Curraheen crowd when coming from a seemingly impossible position to claim a dramatic victory over Sede Vacante in the third heat.

SATURDAY night at Curraheen provided a final chance for Laurels hopefuls to gain some competitive action at the track prior to the start of the Classic, and Sede Vacante put the finishing touches to his preparations with a super performance in a top-class renewal of the Great Stuff Caterers Open 525.

THE race for glory will commence tomorrow evening at Shelbourne Park with 150 greyhounds in pursuit of the €120,000 Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby.

The two sessions of the opening round of the Laurels were completed at Curraheen Park over the weekend and ante-post favourite Tyrur Enda emerged with his reputation enhanced while his kennel-companion and Derby runner-up Tyrur Big Mike’s suitability to the circuit remains somewhat in question despite a winning start to his campaign.