The big news from Ireland is the return from Covid hibernation of the two Northern Irish tracks, Derry and Drumbo.
In terms of the racing, few events attracted more interest than the Lee Strand 550 decider at Tralee where coursing bred Ballymac Rule was fancied to take his unbeaten track record to ten. It wasn’t to be with the €7,000 decider going the way of Dromulton Pilot whose 29.84 was the third fastest run of the year.
Shelbourne Park staged the second round of the Irish Oaks where Billys Diva set the standard in 28.18 and took her career record to 10/21.
Meanwhile at Clonmel, Good Cody became the fastest hound over the Produce Stakes course and distance since Clares Rocket in 2016 with a 28.09 run in the semis. The other qualifier went to Explosive Boy in 28.58.
A Kilkenny, Serene Ace landed the prestigious Champion Open Unraced final in the fastest time of the week. Silverhill Karen recorded the fastest 750 in almost two years in a stayers stake at Cork.
Like many tracks in recent weeks, Enniscorthy is running particularly well at present but that should not detract from the fastest of the week run by Sovereign Boy in an unraced stake.
| CLONMEL | 28.09 | GOOD CODY | (Definate Opinion-Soho Ark, Oct 19) |
| CURRAHEEN PARK | 41.31 | SILVERHILL KAREN | (Ballymac Eske-Silverhill Joyce, Jan 19) |
| DERRY | 16.66 | CRINKILL POPPY | (Droopys Sydney-Crinkill Vixen, Nov 19) |
| DRUMBO PARK | 28.43 | MEENAGH MELODY | (Droopys Sydney-Boherna Abbie, Sep 19) |
| DUNDALK | 21.37 | BEN BOW | (Heisman-Corduff Flame, Aug 19) |
| ENNISCORTHY | 28.87 | SOVEREIGN BOY | (Pat C Sabbath-Chaotic Lynda, Aug 19) |
| GALWAY | 28.93 | SPRINGWELL THOMO | (Kinloch Brae-Springwell Dotsy, May 19) |
| KILKENNY | 28.98 | SERENE ACE | (Scolari Me Daddy-Boleys Ace, Sep 19) |
| LIMERICK | 29.97 | BLASTOFF HARRY | (Tarsna Havana-Blastoff Khalesi, Aug 19) |
| MULLINGAR | 29.67 | SPRINGWELL DIVA | (Pat C Sabbath-Springwell Dotsy, Jan 20) |
| NEWBRIDGE | 28.74 | NOIRS NIDGE | (Droopys Nidge-Hoof It Katie, Sep 19) |
| SHELBOURNE PARK | 28.18 | BILLYS DIVA | (Good News-Jaytee Sahara, Feb 19) |
| 18.62 | GALTEE XTRA | (Droopys Jet-Ballymac Galtee, Jul 18) | |
| THURLES | 29.07 | BOLEYS CHAMP | (Scolari Me Daddy-Boleys Ace, Sep 19) |
| TRALEE | 29.84 | DROMULTON PILOT | (Laughil Blake-Ballymac Andwhy, Feb 19) |
| WATERFORD | 28.78 | EXPLOSIVE SASH | (Farloe Blitz-Lemon Hazel, Aug 19) |
| YOUGHAL | 29.10 | ASHVILLE BLONDIE | (Good News-Posh Panther, Sep 18) |
