Record number enter Delaney Memorial again!

A record 59 royally bred 2-year-old harness racing pacers have now staked their claim on the 4^th annual Ladbrokes Vincent Delaney Memorial Cup weekend, following the closing of entries on February 6^th.

A first prize of €12,000 for the grand final and an additional €4000 consolation race has attracted an unprecedented number of entries for the event, the richest in Europe for pacers and all eyes will be on Portmarnock Raceway in Dublin the weekend of Saturday, August 8 and Sunday, August 9 to see who scoops this year’s renewal.

The increase in nominations was a very positive 13% over last year.

Although a filly has never won the most prestigious event in the British Isles, the fairer sex are responsible for almost half the entries this year and with preference on the gate in the final, this could be the year a filly finally breaks the deadlock.

The most popular sire in the line up is Kikcolt with 10 representatives followed by Hasty Hall with 8, Rogue Hall with 6 and Pro Bono Best the next most popular sire with 5 prospective runners.

Standardbred breeding aficionados are always frothing at the mouth in anticipation at the entries list being published and this year has proven to be no exception.

Imported yearlings by sires Well Said, Rocknroll Hanover, Santanna Blue Chip, Dragon Again and Western Terror were all nominated in a year which also features the progeny of first season sires Star On The Beach, Urban Guy and Share The Delight.

Trends are also beginning to emerge after three runnings of the event with the previous three winning sires all represented and also the dam of last year’s winner too.

In 2012, Frisco Fiddler took the inaugural Delaney Memorial and his sire, Arts Conquest, has sired Miraculous, whose dam Another Mattie, was responsible for last years winner, Titanium.

Oddsmaker Dan Carlin, who is soon to release a book and its certain that this colt will feature high up in the betting. Yankee Lariat, the sire of Camden Tino, the winner of 2013’s Delaney renewal, has just a single nomination in Kick On, but this is out of Stakes winning mare Coalford Virtue and trained by Brenda Hudson, a formidable female trainer and driver of many classic winners spanning almost 4 decades.

Top UK trainer Alexis Laider has signalled her intentions to go all out this campaign to land the spoils and she has entered a total of six including the most expensive yearling ever purchased in Britain, Rhyds Megastar, which fetched an eye-watering £51,000 at Builth Wells Sale in Wales back in October 2014.

Megastar is out of the UK’s most prodigious broodmare Tonda Star, who has been responsible for some of the most stellar performers over recent years, including Stars Dragon, Rhyds Hallstar and the recently deceased Rhyds Five Star.

The Irish have seen the lions share of the prize money travel back across to the UK in all three running’s of the Delaney Memorial so far and this time around the home team are intending to put up their strongest defence ever in an effort to keep the distribution of the weekend’s total prize money of €29,000 euros local.

Willy Flanagan and the mighty Meadowbranch Stud along with Alan Wallace and the Newtown Stud will lead this charge with three runners each with all three Meadowbranchs runners by siring sensation Kikicolt and Newtown’s are all imports by the mighty Rocknroll Hanover.

Brothers James and Derek Delaney, chief organisers and main backers of the memorial series ran in memory of late younger brother Vincent, have entered two pacers themselves in this years renewal, a colt and a filly.

Having gone so close in 2014 with Carmel Camden, a heat winner, they have entered up the syndicated colt Brywins Magician and the aptly named filly, Oakwood Destiny, in an effort to win the final and create a fairy tale ending to a race that’s captured the world’s imagination since its inaugural running back in 2012.  

Portmarnock Raceway in Dublin on August 8^th and 9^th is the place to be and thousands of patrons are expected from across the globe to converge on the venue in Ireland, traditionally dubbed as the land of a thousand welcomes.

By Thomas Bennett, for Harnesslink.com

Listed below are the nominees for the 2015 Ladbrokes Vincent Delaney Memorial