MONARCH STILL THE THIRD BEND KING
Ian Fortune
Bouncing Monarch may have failed to post a sub 17 second run to the third turn for the first time in this year’s Derby on Saturday night but he still managed to set the standard in the semi-finals as he clocked 17.09.
It’s some eighteen spots slower than his next slowest third bend sectional but he still emerged a tremendous winner in 29.35. It means that he is the only greyhound in the competition to lead at the third bend in each of the five rounds to date and he is a very short price to do so again in Saturday’s final.
Incredibly, Im Here led to the third time for the first time in the classic in the other semi-final, coming around Hackney Dancer and Bockos Gold at the second bend to stop the third bend clock in 17.11.
He may have been beaten into third but it will give his connections real belief that he can go close to dictating again from what has turned out to b a very favourable draw in the final.
And so, for the penultimate time in this year’s Derby, below is a full breakdown of the leader’s clocks to the third turn.
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Leaders Clocks (Fastest to Slowest): |
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1st round |
2nd round |
3rd round |
Quarter-finals |
Semi-finals |
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Bouncing Monarch |
16.91 |
16.87 |
16.93 |
16.87 |
17.09 |
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Im Here |
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17.11 |
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Low Profile |
17.11 |
17.07 |
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17.01 |
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Croydon Avenger |
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17.09 |
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Hackney Dancer |
17.12 |
17.24 |
17.07 |
17.24 |
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Wi Can James |
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16.96 |
16.98 |
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Waitingforastar |
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17.04 |
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Grouchos Chief |
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17.03 |
17.06 |
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Harvard Square |
17.12 |
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17.07 |
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Firstpastthepost |
17.06 |
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17.12 |
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Coloursaregreen |
17.08 |
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17.24 |
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Glengar Phantom |
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16.87 |
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Bockos Diamond |
17.03 |
16.92 |
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Solo And Go |
16.98 |
16.95 |
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Ballyea Warrior |
16.95 |
16.99 |
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Sleight Of Hand |
16.90 |
17.03 |
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Droopys Monk |
17.19 |
17.03 |
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Razldazl Loreal |
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17.06 |
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Getup The Boy |
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17.09 |
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Hackney Plan |
17.01 |
17.11 |
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Sober Barry |
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17.12 |
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Skywalker Bruno |
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17.14 |
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Ballymac Gwennie |
17.04 |
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Shotgun Dez |
17.04 |
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Ballymac Deniro |
17.06 |
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Amidus Hulk |
17.09 |
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Kilcolgan Norman |
17.17 |
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Slippery Brian |
17.17 |
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Ballyhooly Cliff & Roarin Ogara |
17.19 |
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Singalong Cherry |
17.19 |
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Kapuka Coley |
17.19 |
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Bombay Special |
17.24 |
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Jaykay Fly |
17.24 |
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Ballymac Kamala |
17.35 |
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