The start of the 48th Annual Guinness Trophy brings a tangible touch of class to proceedings at Curraheen Park and it looks like the ladies could dominate the opening night.

IN last weekend’s second round of the Pat Hennerty Sales Irish Laurels at Curraheen Park there weren’t any shocks that couldn’t have been predicted and the result is a quarter-final line-up that looks no easier to solve than at the first round stage.

I HAVE to say I was pleasantly surprised when first receiving Cashmans’ list of prices for tonight’s quarter-final heats of the Laurels. Often times the odds dictate that my actual bet will differ from what I believe to be the most likely winner but when the two are in sync it’s all the sweeter.

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.

I’M still struggling to figure out how Deerfield Music, who posted 28.21, managed to get beaten in the opening round of the Laurels, but he’s undeniably well drawn in tonight’s second round second heat and is confidently expected to make a return to winning ways.

HAVING gone almost overboard with my reaction to his early puppy runs at Shelbourne, I was pleased to see the Pat Buckley trained Slick Seattle finally live up to the rating with a superb 28.16 run in Monday’s unscheduled third session of the Pat Hennerty Sales Irish Laurels at Curraheen Park.

THE second session of the opening round of the Pat Hennerty Sales Irish Laurels dominates tonight's action at Curraheen Park and much of the early focus will be Tyrur Big Mike and how he fares in the first of eight heats.

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.

TONIGHT’S final of the Beamish A1 at Curraheen Park is laden with early pace, but the make-up is such that Aghaburren River, who seems unlikely to lead, could be drawn to upset more fancied rivals, Johnny Linehan’s dog ran a cracker in the semi-final when pushing Burgess Star to a length and given that he was returning after a couple of months off, he’s entitled to improve for the outing.

BY MONDAY afternoon, the starting line-up for the 2011 Laurels will be revealed and the draw for the first round heats made

CURRAHEEN Park plays host to a superb card tonight and the top-class action begins as early as the third race, where national record holder Leeview Jet is the star attraction.