We now have 48 greyhounds left in the Classic and heading the market is the former English tracker Boherna Best N/A, who made all in his first race for Owen McKenna, winning in a time of 28.79sec.
He showed good early on that occasion and will certainly improve for the run. However, his overall form doesn't merit enough to be favourite for such a prestigious competition as this.
Some thought that Irish Derby runner-up Oran Classic N/A may be one of the first round casualties after his hectic schedule leading up to the Laurels. Despite this, he showed no ill-effects of the last few weeks to make all in 28.77sec and looks capable of getting to another big final. He can't afford any mistakes from the traps though.
Fastest in the first round was the Pat Buckley-trained Cabra Minstral N/A with a whopping 28.56sec. He'll be one of Buckley's team bidding to give the Limerick man his sixth major success of the year and with Pat's five strong team, which also includes Cabra Cool N/A, Slip The Lark N/A, Tyrur Giovanni N/A and Killahan Rocket N/A, all still there, 'Bucks' has a great chance of bagging this year's Laurels.
Other eye-catchers in the first round heats were the Graham Holland-trained Sevenheads Bay N/A, who clocked an impressive 28.64sec, Faypoint Dec N/A, Gilbeyhall Jake N/A, Star Of Aaron N/A and We Paint Houses N/A, who came from last to first to pip Tyrur Giovanni.
Weekend action
On to this weekend's action and this Saturday's second round session looks top drawer. The race of the round looks to be the concluding heat where We Paint Houses N/A locks horns with St Louis Spirit N/A and St Leger winner Bar Blackstone N/A.
The opening heat looks a match on paper between Tyrur Kieran N/A and Slip The Lark N/A while Oran Legend N/A, in heat 2, and Boherna Best N/A, in heat 4, look the best bets of the night. And there's a couple of intriguing matches where Faypoint Dec N/A and Cabra Cool N/A go head-to-head in heat 3 and Oran Classic and Cabra Minstral take each other on in heat 6.
After watching the opening round action, my two against the field are Cabra Cool and We Paint Houses. The former has already won the Scottish Derby this year while the latter could be peaking at just the right time. But they face some stern second round opposition. In fact, all eight heats will take some winning on what will be a great night of racing at Curraheen Park on Saturday.
To see the latest Irish Laurels betting click here.
Are ye taking bets on the 2nd round of the irish laurels, wat price is bar blackstone to win the last heat