CASH REWARD QUICKEST IN LIMERICK & CLARE GOBA SEMIS

Peter Farrell

With the TIME Club Graders Derby set to dominate proceedings at Limerick next weekend, it was a quiet affair at the Munster venue on Saturday night as the the semi finals of the Limerick & Clare GOBA A3 525 served as the feature. 

Of the two semi finals on offer, Cash Reward went quickest as he broke his maiden tag for Ted Curtin at the fifth time of asking. The November pup was forced to settle for the bridesmaid position in his last two starts, however, he justified favouritism in the second semi final as he came from off-the-pace to score. Slowly into stride from trap five, the son of Ballymac Cashout - Sweet Pear showed a nice turn of early speed to recover into fourth and he again displayed fine back straight pace to get to with a couple of lengths passing the sprint boxes. Steady improvement was to follow from Cash Reward (7/4) as he went neck and neck with Fergus Silver, and he turned the screw between the bottom two bends to take control. Staying on in powerful fashion thereafter, Curtin’s pup pulled clear to win by one length from Kyleturn Lucky in second. The time was 28.77. 

The opening semi final was landed in predictable fashion from the impressive MIssouri Ebony, who built on his explosive opening round win in good style. 

Missouri Ebony landed his opening round assignment in a blistering 28.48 and the Corona Ryan-trained tracker, owned by Michael Gammell, justified his 4/6 starting price with another professional display, in turn outlining his abilities to do it from off-the-pace. Sluggish into stride this time around from trap four, the son of Explosive Boy - Burgess Cassie was screaming for racing room early on, however, was forced to settle for second as Lauras Pick led the pack into the back. However, within a couple of strides ‘Ebony’ was on terms with his rival and he duly stormed to the front approaching the penultimate bend. Staying on stoutly thereafter, Ryan’s charge raced to a one and a half length victory over Lauras Pick, in a time of 28.83.

REX RETURNS IN STYLE

Elsewhere on the card, the performance of the night came in race three as Blastoff Rex made a winning return to action for the Racing-Bucks-Syndicate. 

Blastoff Rex is the top-class tracker on his day and his 18.65 qualifying trial clearly suggested he was in fine fettle ahead of his return. Donning the red jacket in this A1 contest, the 5/2 chance steered a middle course in the opening yards, however, had plenty of early speed to lead his rivals into the back. Holding a two length advantage passing the sprint boxes, it was Singalong Mick that set off in chase and although he really pressed Blastoff Rex, ‘Rex’ had done the damage early to just hold on and score. Just a half-length separating the pair, the time was 28.35.