Shark leads local attack on Tipperary Cup
TRAPRISE
The flagship event of the season at Thurles Greyhound Stadium, the 2019 Tipperary Cup commenced on Saturday and amidst a stellar cast of entry, local challengers returned some brilliant opening round efforts with the most popular winner of the round coming in the final heat as Tina & Tommy Morrissey’s Great Blue Shark delighted patrons in a dominant success.
Gathering legions of fans at his home track, the career of Great Blue Shark (Confident Rankin/Lady Midnight) has been that of a hugely progressive racer with much of his popularity deriving from his recovery from a broken hock. With an expertly crafted career at the hands of trainer Tina Morrissey, the June 2016 whelp has become one of the most consistent performers at graded level while claiming A3 Stake success at Thurles just a fortnight ago.
With that victory prompting an entry to the Tipperary Cup, Shark would face a daunting task in his Open race debut on Saturday but the home favourite proved up to the challenge as he found his best break from Trap 5 to command the early exchanges and once turning the opening bend in front, he was always going to prove difficult to reel-in.
Always impressive on the back-straight, a two-length margin off the second bend would never threaten to reduce as he galloped powerfully throughout and Shark was full value for his one and a half length verdict over Code Flash when posting 29.23 (-40). That winning time leaves him with some ground to make up on the fastest first round scorers but we have learned by now that the brave Great Blue Shark must never be underestimated!
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