Lennies Desire makes wide seed move from Hennessy look inspired

All Lennie desired was a wide tag

It would have been easy for connections to have only moved Lennies Desire to a middle from the rails tag that he had during the Maiden Derby. There are few as canny as Paul Hennessy is, however, and his decision to go whole hog to a wide tag saw his promising son of Signet Ace produce the quickest time of the final night of round one. 

A 28.58 performance now makes him one of the leading outright contenders for all that Saturday was by far the quickest night overall. As the sun shone, the times on the track far outstripped both Thursday and Friday. It will be interesting to see how the nights match up for the second round next week.

For the Hennessy team, it was a perfect 7/7 making the second round. Given the quality of the field and the luck required, that is a superb achievement with the 2024 runner-up Boylesports Bob giving them a double later on in the evening. His 29.16 was not one of the quicker times on the clock but as is often the way with him, it was arguably the run of the night from a visual point of view given where he came from.

Pat Buckley added to the Irish winners in the opening round with Ballinabola Joe. His 3.91 split is the quickest in the competition so far, clocking a flying 28.62. Graham Holland picked up a winner for the third straight day as Bombay Pat started his campaign with a 28.81 success. 

Doubles for Janssens and Locke

Droopys Plunge was part of a short-price double for Patrick Janssens along with Barntick Bear. It was a sharper break than is often the case for the former and given his strength, he was never going to be coming back to them. The latter had to work harder to get to the front but he was comfortably on top at the line. One of the notable runs in defeat came from Aero Sacundai who didn't trap but made the Janssens-trained powerhouse dig deep.

After the injury to Droopys Pivotel on Friday, it seemed only right that Maxine Locke enjoyed a pair of winners on the night, though Headford Asher was knocked out. He will surely be back bigger and better as a more experienced dog in 2026 and will likely be one of the market leaders for outright glory.

Cooliogold rolled back the years with a smart display of early pace. He has just entered veteran status and has had a larger catalogue of injuries than Roger Hargreaves's Mr Bump but when he is on song, he is a joy to watch. Desperately unlucky in his quarter-final last year, a long stay in the competition would be no surprise.

Runner-up in the Maiden Derby, Ballybough Nutz once more showed off his early gears to blow apart his heat. A 3.93 split set him clear and he never looked like being troubled to land the money in 28.87. Rapido Ali won for Patrick Browne and Soul Choice scored for Paul Marchant, both taking advantage of the innermost draw.

The final heat of the first round saw two of the 2024 finalists take one another on and it proved to be a cracker with Churchfield Syd getting his campaign off to a winning start for Richard Rees, holding off the late challenge from Ted Soppitt's Sunnyside Broxi. Four of the six 2024 finalists are back in 2025, with all of them making it into the second round.

Heat 22 - 1st Soul Choice (t1) - 2nd Back To Black (t6) - 3rd Droopys Maximus (t2)

Heat 23 - 1st Lennies Desire (t6) - 2nd Vhagar (t4) - 3rd Thats It Jack (T1)

Heat 24 - 1st Barntick Bear (t2) - Aero Sacundai (t3) - Swift Underwater (t1)

Heat 25 - 1st Rapdo Ali (t1) - 2nd Ballymac Tibet (t6) - 3rd Hurry Up Brendan (t4)

Heat 26 - 1st Droopys Plunge (T2) - 2nd Scooby Pacemaker (t3) - 3rd Deliverooo (t6)

Heat 27 - 1st Bombay Pat (t6) - 2nd Kevins Rocket (t2) - 3rd Wrighty (t1)

Heat 28 - 1st Cooliogold (t1) - 2nd Uncle Freddie (t4) - 3rd Table Toppers (t2)

Heat 29 - 1st Ballinabola Joe (t6) - 2nd Barefoot On Fire (t3) - 3rd Nine Percent (t4) 

Heat 30 - 1st Boylesports Bob (t6) - 2nd Fabulous Sonique (t2) - 3rd Droopys Metaphor (t1)

Heat 31 - 1st Ballybough Nutz (t1) - 2nd Teddie (t2) - 3rd Crokers Planet (t6)

Heat 32 - 1st Churchfield Syd (t6) - 2nd Sunnyside Broxi (t1) - 3rd Pain Barrier (t3)