Former Wexford inter-county hurler, Eamon Cleary, bids to win the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby at Shelbourne Park on Saturday night, it carries a winners’ prize of €140,000.
Drawn in trap one, Ballyanne Sim is trained by James Robinson, has won eight of his twenty races to date, and the son of Confident Rankin has amassed €5,000 in prizemoney.
Eamon told WexfordToday.com that he “saw him trial unofficial at Shelbourne in early January and bought him there. Trained him up and ran in his first ever race in Shelbourne. He won a few 525 races and showed me enough to run in the Produce Stakes. He got to the final of that but got trap 5 so his final was over before it began. Ran him in the National Sprint in Dundalk for experience and he went three rounds in that.
“Ran him in a stake in Shelbourne after that and won the final in 28.43. The Derby draw was the following week so put him in it. Wasn’t very hopeful as I thought he wouldn’t stay but he has so much early it helps him there. I believe we have a serious chance on Saturday night.”
Now residing in Kildare, the Ratharogue-Cushinstown man played both senior hurling and football with Wexford, winning an All-Star in 1989. He is no stranger to success in horse racing having bred that great mare, Annie Power.
The Derby is due off at 9.15 pm and will be shown live on RTE 2.