Skip Soda puts O’Donnells back in the limelight

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.

Matt and Frances O’Donnell have trained some legendary greyhounds over the years and rank among the elite band of trainers to have won both the English and Irish Derbys.

They could well have another major Derby contender on their hands in Skip Soda which posted the joint fastest time in the quarter finals on Sunday night.

Owned by Tom Smyth and Maurice Jackson, Skip Soda led all the way in the second heat and stayed on very strongly in beating Camas by three and a half lengths in 28.73. The other dog to post a time of 28.73 was Declan Moloney’s Nastasi as he led off the final bend in this heat for a two length margin over another O’Donnell runner Skywalker Puma.

Moloney had a heat double, the first leg being provided by fastest first round winner Pagani as he got up late to win in 28.96.

The solitary unbeaten finalist will be the Graham Holland trained Jacobs Courage which again displayed brilliant early pace in quickly going clear for a very easy success in 28.88.

While these young pups are commencing their careers, the second season pups are currently setting out on their 2012 campaign and a big target is the traditional Joe Dunne Memorial Puppy Stake which gets underway at Shelbourne Park on Saturday.

Only ten names were in the book yesterday afternoon but a flood of entries is anticipated for the 48 dog competition prior to tomorrow’s noon closure deadline.

But the ten names in the book yesterday afternoon contained some very exciting young trackers headed by the very promising Noirs Buachaill which will appreciate the 550 yards trip.

Two very interesting entries are Droopys Jet and Subway Gerry. Droopys Jet is three from three and is trained by Fraser Black for the Laurence Blunt/ Martin Wakefield team. He won an Open Novice Stake around Thurles in November and clocked 28.46 in a trial on Saturday when leading home Ballybough Hawke by eight lengths. Subway Gerry is trained by Francie Murray for Alan Dunne and this son of Hondo Black won the Kasco A3 Stake at Longford in 28.30 while he posted a 28.36 trial in a pre-racing trial at Shelbourne on Thursday.

The names already in the book are Droopys Jet, Noirs Buachaill, Subway Gerry, Ballybough Hawke, Mutual Consent, Beany Tunes, Swords Jacko, Swords Star and Confident Rankin. Many of the leading kennels have yet to make their entries for the €7,500 to the winner competition.

The heats of the Joe Dunne will provide a very exciting back-up to the semi-finals of the Tyrur McGuigan @ Stud Open 575 on Saturday. Two thrilling semis are in prospect with Broadstrand Lad still at the top of Paddy Power’s list at 3-1 while Martinstown Snow is now the 7-2 second favourite.

Power bet : 3 Broadstrand Lad; 7-2 Martinstown Snow; 5 Coolavanny Shine, Tibetan Skies; 8 Ohio Rumble; 10 Croom Star, Tyrur Domingo; 12 Tyrur Willyjoe; 20 Bar

The draw for the semi-finals of the Festival Unraced Stake at Clonmel on Sunday is:

Heat 1: 1 Pagani; 2 Sion Black; 3 Killinan Cool; 4 Express Mission; 5 Camas (m); 6 Skip Soda (m).

Heat 2: 1 Express Premier; 2 Jacobs Courage; 3 Nastasi; 4 Skywalker Puma; 5 Confident Robert (w); 6 Foxy Ned (w).