Greyhounds
Irish Greyhound Derby Tips: Monmore & Shelbourne Best Bets
William Hill ambassador Dani Jackson provides her tips and predictions for the Irish Greyhound Derby, as well as an insight into this week’s action from Monmore and Shelbourne.
Irish Greyhound Derby
The Irish Greyhound Derby is going to keep us entertained for the next six weeks and I fancy a bitch to take the crown. BALLYDOYLE TINA has had plenty of success in her short career with seven wins from fourteen starts and she is a 20/1-shot for this year’s renewal. She’s only been out of the front three once, in the semis of the Christmas Oaks last December. The highlight so far was her domination in the Puppy Oaks final at Shelbourne when she won by four lengths. She popped out, drew clear down the back and romped home. Tina loves the track and I think she can go very deep in this years comp. Her time around here is electric, and she’s in cracking hands with Graham Holland who has won it for the last two years, and he has trained the champion five of the last ten years. You can watch her heat, and in fact every single race of the Irish Greyhound Derby at William Hill.
Thursday, Monmore
There’s a triple header of greatness on Friday night with night two of the Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park and the start of both the Gold Cup and the Summer Stayers Classic at Monmore.
At Monmore the best bet is a Gold Cup hopeful in the shape of SCOOBY DIAMOND for Nathan Hunt. She stamped her authority all over the Open scene when taking the Romford Puppy Cup on just her eighth start. She finished 2025 with two silver medals in Cat one company. This year She took the Guys and Dolls comp at Romford in July and heads into her first Cat one of the year here.
Shelbourne, Friday
At Shelbourne the nap comes in heat nineteen, drawn in red, METAL KING. He’s a son of King Sheeran and Coolavanny Poppy so he’s supremely well-bred and he’s made a very bright start to his career with two wins from two starts. One was here over the derby trip where he recorded a decent time of 29.48s. That leaves him with wiggle room to improve and I think he’ll be a puppy to keep on side.
