West Cork, IE – The elimination heats of the Paddy Connolly Memorial Le Trot and The Murphy/Hurley & White Grand Prix were the feature on the opening day of the Ballabuidhe Harness Racing Festival in Dunmanway West Cork .
Once again it was 16 year old Oisin Quill who stole the headlines when the County Kerry native took two of the heats in The Grand Prix.
Hail Spartacus a former winner of the event in 2016 set the ball rolling for the teenager .Brywins Starship led for most of the contest but Quill was only laying in the "long grass" and ponced with two furlongs to pace andf ran out an easy winner from the long time leader.
Quill completed the double with similar tactics in the high grade heat. Fairdays Bret with Chelsie O Driscoll in the bike set a frenetic pace and was 4 lengths in front heading in to the last quarter all the while Quill on King Wills Arrival had moved through the field and led off the last corner to win by 2 lengths .
Quill will drive King Wills arrival in the Bank Holiday Monday final for his dad Finbarr who owns the son of Cams Card Shark.
It was a good all round for the Quill family as earlier in the day Tarnao Josselyn won the third heat of The Connolly /Le Trot .
This was a thriller with Vigo De Bassiere looking all out a winner but he could not get past Tarnao Josselyn who is a veteran but running as good as ever.
The younger generation of drivers are to the fore in West Cork at present and John O Mahony finally got the best out of Un Boss in the first Le Tot heat making all and never in danger and will be in pole position in the final.
Luke Kelleher at 17 years of age was not to be outdone by the lads and took another heat of the Grand Prix on Brywins Picasso who seems to like the venue (He won heat and final here in 2017) .
Saunders Picasso is another consistent type on grass and he just held off Heather Breeze in Heat 2 of the Grand Prix.
The Kane siblings Sean and Emma fought out the second elinination heat for trotters with Emma leading all the way on Amite Briangault but Sean just nabbed her on the line on Saxo De Maroncourt with Brutenor edging in for second
The warm weather brought out the crowds and we do it all again tomorrow Monday
by Tim Kelleher, for Harnesslink
RESULTS
Race One 1. Un Boss J O Mahony 2. Ariane Des Tithais S Quill 3. Brasilia Match S Kane DIST NK 10 TIME 3.12.6
Rcae Two 1. Saxo De Maroncourt S Kane 2.Brutenor P Hill 3. Armite Briangault E Kane DIST NK NK TIME 3.10.1
Rcae Three 1. Tarnao Josselyn S Quill 2. Vigo DE Bassiere K Sheehy 3. Aubade A Helene P Hill DIST HD 3 TIME 3.09.8
Race Four 1. Brywins Picasso L Kelleher 2. The Hitman M Goggin Jnr 3. Willf P Gilligan DIST 12 10 TIME 3.12.6
Race Five 1. Saunders Picasso M Goggin Jnr 2. Heather Breeze S Jennings 3. Rhyds Heartbeat D Murphy DIST NK 3 TIME 3.11.1
Race Six 1. Hail Spartacus O Quill 2 Brywins Starship R Kingston 3. Springhill Doyle M OM Reilly DIST 11 8 TIME 3.10.4
Race Seven 1. King Wills Arrival O Quill 2. Fairdays Bret C O Driscoll 3. Meadowbranch Demon L kelleher DIST 2 2 TIME 3.02.1