First up were the fillies and eight regally bred females lined up behind the starter with the Vicky Gill driven Rhyds Mystique going to post the Evens favourite on the bookies boards.
Taking maximum advantage from a three draw near the rails Mistique (by Hasty Hall) hit the front and never seen another rival as she cruised to a 2:03.5 victory. The win seen her overtake She Be Rockin and Coalford Honey in the betting for the eliminations and grand final to be held at Portmarnock on August 13th and 14th. Runner up Rhyds Voodoo was shortened further in the betting to 5/1 with Greenhilldebatable drifting in the betting out to 8/1.
Mystique, stable named Ruby, is now 3 from 3 and improving with every run. Her overjoyed owners Marc and Viccy Elvin have been stalwart supporters of harness racing in the UK for many years who were forced to retire stable star Ayr Mission through injury earlier on in the week so this win was especially bittersweet for the family.
The Elvins now face the unenviable dilemma of giving Mistique one more race or heading to the Vincent Delaney Memorial a fresh horse. The fact that this race is the Breeders Crown fillies final at Tir Prince the owners local track will make this decision all the more difficult to call!
Rhyds Decoy (by Hasty Hall) was the subject of a late gamble in the colts division and the early break in stride by odds on favourite Tyrion Hanover made his job a whole lot easier as he delivered in spades for trainer-driver Andrew Cairns in 2:05.8, a full 2.3 seconds slower than the fillies.
But as the old saying goes "time only matters when your doing it" and Rhyds Decoy only had to do enough to land the spoils and still looks a top class prospect for owners Brett Lloyd, Kevin Myles and Brent Thompson. Share A Smile rallied late to claim second ahead of Ladyford Express and while oddsmaker Dan Carlin shortened up the winner to 9/4 second favourite,
Tyrion Hanover, the Somebeachsomewhere colt, still heads the market at 4/5 favourite to hit paydirt in the final August 14th. Tyrion will need to get it right on the day however as he cannot afford to fluff his lines at Portmarnock and trainer Samboy Howard will be working overtime to eliminate the greenness that plagued his Tir Prince performance.
For breeding afficianados it was interesting that the dam of Rhyds Decoy is out of CPR whilst the dam of Rhyds Mistique is out of CPs Village Jigsaw, a daughter of CPR. What a triumph it is for breeders Greta and John Wright of the Rhyds Stud in Wales to have that dynasty still producing after more than a decade and of course both horses are sired by their prolific stallion Hasty Hall, whom has also been at the top of his profession for over a decade.
by Thomas Bennett, for Harnesslink