Easter Cup Final

CLONA BLAZE THE NAP

It’s easy to get lost in all the hype coming up to the Cheltenham festival, but there is a cracking final on tonight in HQ that will get the juices flowing even more ahead of next week. One lucky winner will head home this evening from Shelbourne Park with €25,000 as the 2019 Ladbrokes Easter Cup final takes place. Since it’s induction in 1928, the Easter Cup has produced wonderful memories and winners down through the years with Spanish Battleship, Premier Fantasy and Jaytee Jet, to mention a few. 

Clona Blaze, who is unbeaten in this competition and is 9/4 with Ladbrokes the sponsors, is my nap of the night. Graham Holland trains three finalists here with Clona Blaze, Clonbrien Prince and Lenson Blinder. The level of talent in this race is unbelievable but Clona Blaze has turned inside out since his return this year, he is breaking better, showing more pace, is perfectly drawn and has the best form in the Easter Cup. The other five runners are all dangers with trap one and 10/1 shot, Gurteen Feather showing strong signs last week that he is nearly back to his old self finishing third to Clona Blaze. Gurteen is usually a flier from the inside and possesses exceptional pace so we may get to see that tonight. Droopys Davy who won the big Con & Annie Kirby Memorial race produced his best run in the semi final winning by four lengths in 29.33 leading all the way so of course he cannot be ignored, but he is a dog that must lead if he is to win. 

The supporting card is sensational, immediately you have to be drawn to race twelve with Wolfe in trap three and last years Derby consolation finalist and Leger semi finalist, Totos Park in trap five, they are both trained by Holland. Wolfe will be hard to beat here, he was unlucky to be knocked out of the Easter Cup. He is not the fastest from traps but he makes up for that with his pace and usually picks up the lead at a later stage. If Totos Park can return to his best it will be hard to pass him but he probably lacks race fitness, having only raced once since November. 

Young trainer Patrick Guilfoyle was unlucky not to get Magical Bale through to the Easter Cup final but he can train a winner tonight with Skywalker Logan from trap five in race eleven in the ‘Plunkett Devlin Celebration’ final. Not many greyhounds break the 29.00 seconds barrier around HQ but this dog has with 27.99 over 525 yards, making him one of the fastest dogs in the Country. He is very versatile and can win over the further trip here of 600 yards. The big danger is trap one Ballymac Tas trained by the talented Liam Dowling. She was very good last week making all from the inside draw so she can produce another fine performance wearing the red jacket here.

Liam Dowling could produce a quick fire double heading into the finale with Akelawre in trap three. He missed the break and lost his chance of going further in the Easter Cup but you can ignore that run. He soon became a big name when he beat Magical Bale fair and square a few weeks ago so that form is hard to ignore. Beaming Paradise in trap one has an ideal draw so is not without a chance. 

Newhall Missile returned last week with a bang as he got up on the line to win in a tight finish. He will come on loads from that run as it would of been badly needed for the 2018 Derby Consolation champion. Droopys Biker in trap five makes his return as he has been off since July. He got through a few rounds of the English Derby, however it will be hard for him to win here but he is one to keep an eye on for the future. Bakery Lane is a very talented and fast greyhound, he races from trap one here so he could be the value bet against this competitive field. Blue East in trap two will probably go off favourite but also needs the run, he has been off since November. A tough race but the veteran Bakery Lane is the one for me. 

Race 7 trap 1

Race 9 trap 6 NAP

Race 10 trap 1

Race 11 trap 5

Race 12 trap 3

Race 13 trap 3