Ireland provided four of the six winners on the first round of the RPGTV Scottish Derby over 480 metres at Shawfield on Saturday.
Peter Cronin’s Tynwald Rodney went quickest in heat one when flying out of the boxes and leaving trouble in his wake caused by Lenson Sanchez moving off from trap one, and went on to beat that rival by just over four lengths in 28.98sec.
Cronin had a double in heat four when his Tynwald Bish rode a first bend bump to hit the front at that point and go on to hold Blackjack Django by a short head in 29.52sec.
Fraser Black’s Save Our Don was a trap to line winner of the second qualifier when beating Oaks winner Cashen Maureen by almost four lengths in 29.16sec.
Pat Buckley’s Coolavanny Jap was soon clear in heat three to slam Bowline Bullet by three and a half lengths in 29.13sec.
The top two in the ante-post lists Newinn Yolo and Swift Hoffman were both beaten.
Newinn Yolo, a 1-2 shot, could only play second fiddle to La Cuchilla, who made all to score by three quarters in 28.98sec.
Swift Hoffman, a 4-9 shot, had a few excuses before being outpointed by all the way winner Kneeejerkreaction by half a length in 29.12sec.
The winning owner George Andrews said: “We have had all sorts of little niggles with the dog, a sprain here, a muscle injury there, a bit of a cough, all small things but they all add up and have kept us back.
“But he is lightly raced and as fresh as a daisy now and he seems to be improving every time we take him to a track. We believe he can trap better than he did last night and he ran the track well so I think that he must improve for the run. It’s great for a small kennel like ours to have a dog like this and we are just living the dream.”
