Black Alder was a shock winner of the Comerford Cakes Open 525 Final at Shelbourne Park on Saturday.
The son of Zero Ten went to traps an 8-1 chance as the money came in for 7-4 joint favourites, Proud Graham, who had won impressively in the last two rounds and clocked 28.10sec last week, and Owen McKenna’s Farloe Joey, who did a similar 28.11sec in the semi-finals.
However it was Black Alder who was off to a flyer and he led from Juvenile Derby winner Anopheles and Creamery Bale with Proud Graham moving up strongly to take second by the turn.
However Proud Graham was badly impeded by Anopheles running off and this allowed Black Alder to increase his advantage over Creamery Bale, with Farloe Joey moving into third place.
Farloe Joey went second down the far side and looked like he may overhaul the leader but Black Alder dug deep and stayed on to score by half a length in a decent 28.22sec.
The dog is owned by Peter Comerford, who is one of the sponsors and Tony Moore.
There was mayhem in the final of the Gain Dog Foods Christmas Oaks Final over 525 yards at Shelbourne Park as the traps failed to open properly.
The boxes only partially opened and the trap one runner Hovex Princess actually got out and ran a lap. Trap six runner Urban Gossip also managed to get out with all the others stuck in the traps.
Quick thinking track staff prevented what may have been become a nasty incident. Thankfully all the runners were given the all-clear afterwards.
The final has been rescheduled and will now take place on Saturday January 2.
