Derby champ Laughil Blake and the immensely talented Droopys Nidge gave further credence, if it were needed, to the ‘Night of Stars’ moniker as they produced stellar performances on Saturday at Shelbourne Park.

'Hollyoaks' will unmask Fraser Black's killer on Snapchat.

Hollyoaks' Ste Hay is heading down a dark path.

Danny Dyer has been shortlisted for Sexiest Male at the British Soap Awards.

With only four heats, the entry for tonight's first round of the Tyrur McGuigan Open 575 is a touch disappointing but the richly talented Tibetan Skies can get his challenge off to a winning start by taking the second heat.

Not only did the clear favourite, Ballymac Vic, make his exit but Tyrur Sugar Ray went from being a dog of big potential to the one to beat following a breath-taking victory in a scarcely believable 29.29 in the Ladbrokes Irish Derby quarter-finals at Shelbourne Park on Saturday night.

Many of the top fancies go into action in the Ladbrokes Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park tonight.

It was a sensational session at Shelbourne last night as the second lot of heats in the Ladbrokes Irish Derby were run.

The recent Champion Stakes winner Droopys Jet really brought the first session of the Ladbrokes Irish Derby to life at Shelbourne Park last night when he was a hugely impressive winner of heat 5 in 29.52.

Fresh from his brilliant victory in the Champion Stakes just 11 days ago, Droopys Jet is set to provide a high-profile start to the Ladbrokes Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park tonight.

There have been many great nights at Tralee over the years but Saturday’s Betdaq Night of Champions will surely be one of the greatest ever.

A mixture of Irish classic and major winners, brilliant local talent and two high-class English raiders make the Betdaq Race of Champions a huge attraction and the semi-finals should attract a smashing crowd to Tralee on Friday night.

Dolores Ruth’s domination of the Williamhill.com English Derby continued at Wimbledon last night as her three runners all effortlessly qualified for Saturday’s semi-finals with both Razldazl Jayfkay and Razldazl Rioga scoring hugely impressive victories.

Razldazl Jayfkay created history in the second round of the williamhill.com English Derby at Wimbledon when posting new figures for the 480 metre trip.

Owen McKenna, who spent some years training greyhound across the water, could be a regular visitor to the British tracks over the coming months.

Rarely have we approached a season with greater expectations than this year.

Thankfully, the top class action on the greyhound front never seems to abate and in just a couple of weeks’ time we’ll have the opening round of the Tote Gold Cup.

It has been quite a week for the greyhound industry this far with the three splendid days of sport at Clonmel and then the highly encouraging figures released by the Irish Greyhound Board.

Broadstrand Lad may be approaching his fourth birthday, but the brilliant son of Hallucinate retains all his ability and he will be bidding for the biggest title of his career when he lines out in the final of the Tyrur McGuigan @ Stud Open 575.

THE Tyrur McGuigan @ Stud Open 575 has provided some wonderful racing to kick of the New Year at Shelbourne Park over the past three weeks and next week’s final looks hugely intriguing following Saturday’s semi finals.

THE O’Donnell Kennels in Killenaule are back in the headlines with young puppy Skip Soda winning a lot of admirers in the Festival Open Unraced Stake at Clonmel.

AFTER a stunning opening round effort Broadstrand Lad was promoted to clear favourite for the Tyrur McGuigan @ Stud Open 575 and his position in the market has been strengthened further with the withdrawal of Royal Patrol.

THE summer staging of the London Olympics and the Euro Championships have had the combined effect of making the early season build-up to the English Derby a rather rushed affair.

SHELBOURNE Park will be bursting at the seams for tonight’s decider of the Ladbrokes.com Derby.

TRAINER John Linehan and owner Kieran Ryan obviously have serious ambitions in this year's Sporting Press Irish Oaks at Shelbourne.

THE hugely exciting Lady Lucielle can land the McCarthy Insurance Group Oaks final at Curraheen Park tonight.

The appointment of Phil Meaney as Chairman of Bord na gCon, as exclusively reported in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, was confirmed yesterday morning by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney.

CALLING SPICE can firmly underline her claims in the McCarthy Insurance Group Oaks at Curraheen Park by taking the first of tonights semi-finals.

THERE are strong hopes that, despite the weather, tonight’s card at Limerick which features the final of the Kerry Agri Business Irish St Leger will go ahead.

THE stars of tomorrow dominate proceedings at Shelbourne Park this evening in the final of the Comerford Cakes National Puppy Stake.

The weather continues to dominate the greyhound headlines and it was a blank countrywide last night with both Shelbourne and Kilkenny called off due to safety reasons.

SLIPPERY Bob was the star in an eventful second round of the Kerry Agri Business Irish St Leger at Limerick on Saturday evening.

THE meeting of litter brothers Farley Turbo and Farley Blitz in Heat 5 is the most intriguing clash in the second round of the Kerry Agri Business St Leger at Limerick this evening.

THE Ballincollig express train Leeview Jet will make a rapid return to action when he contests the Red Mills Waterford Masters which kicks off at Kilcohan Park on Saturday night.

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.

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.

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.

I’M something of an optimist by nature but I can’t help but detect a number of very positive signs on the Irish greyhound front that provides renewed hope for the future of the industry.

BANDICOOT TIPOKI produced a wonderful effort to break Irish hearts at Wimbledon on Saturday night, coming from well off the pace to capture the williamhill.com English Derby, a fifth for his veteran handler Charlie Lister.

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.

NEWS from across the water yesterday is that one of the biggest entries for many years will go into the draw on Sunday for the first round of the Williamhill.com English Derby and among them there will be one of the biggest ever Irish raiding teams.

This year’s Vetsearch Irish Grand National has provided a marvellous fillip for hurdle racing in this country and has proved yet again that hurdling could become popular here if given the proper promotion by the authorities.

THE Kevin Commins owned and trained Ferdia Bound was fastest in the semi-finals of the IGB National 750 at Shelbourne on Saturday.

Three days to go to the world’s greatest greyhound race and, with the exception of Faypoint Man, there are no negative vibes emanating concerning the other finalists in Saturday’s Paddypower.com Irish Derby final at Shelbourne Park.