Friday and Saturday nights saw the opening round of the Boylesports Irish Derby. There was a string of superb performances across the two nights, the chief of those, March On Freddie. The David Mullins-trained dog has shown himself to be a star in the UK and has taken the first step to doing so on the other side of the Irish Sea.
The two semi-finals in the Droopys Stud Fair Warrior at Mullingar saw Road Exile as the quicker of the two winners. He now has three of the six fastest times of the year over the 400y distance. Odds on in all three rounds of the competition so far, he will find himself at the head of the market next Sunday for the final.
While 29.13 is not a flying time at Thurles, it is a very smart effort to clock that on debut as Kilara Berb did! The March 23 son of Ballymac Cashout is a half-brother to Kilara Roberto who was runner-up to Queen Joni in the Derby Plate back in the summer. He was the youngest winner of the week.
Two other 2023 whelps make the list. Rosy Cross is the first of them at Clonmel. It was just the second start of her life last week after chasing home the flying pup Droopys Kathleen (who could have been the Shelbourne winner) on her debut.
The other is Lemon Joey at Kilkenny. The winner of two of his first four races, he has twice dipped under 29 seconds on calculated times, last week the first before the going allowance. A half-brother to Antigua Eagle and Jacktavern Bella, he is an interesting one for next year.
