The opening round of the prestigious Connolly’s RED MILLS Future Champion Unraced Stake gets underway at Enniscorthy Greyhound Track on Monday night, with the first of the 9 heats due off at 8pm.

This year the competition carries a first prize of €8,500; it all started back in 2005 when Ardkill Jamie raced to victory in 28.73. Down through the years, the stake has attracted some of the best young pups in Ireland, and this years renewal looks comparable to previous years.

Burgess Brandy, owned by Sheila Spillane and JJ Fennelly, won last year’s final in 29.15, and connections are doubly represented this year with Shaky Dog and Burgess Pixie.

Derby winning trainer, Pat Buckley, has a fantastic record in the competition, he last won it in 2015 with Droopys Nine, he has two runners in this year’s stake, Droopys Double in heat 4, and Droopys Bee in heat 7.

The “Kingsmill” prefix has been synonymous with the “Future Champion”, Kingsmill Messi and Kingsmill Sky in ’12 and ’13 were both victorious, and John Roche has two entries this year, litter comrades, Sendai and Oslo.

John Kavanagh, Inglewood, has four dogs entered, all of which are sired by his 2012 Laurels winner, Vimmerby, Latchico, Gerriannby, Miss Trot, Geansei Vim.

Paddy Kehoe’s “Forest” kennel is always a good producer of fast pups; Capri, Lydia, and Charlie represent the kennel here.