All eyes were on Limerick Greyhound Stadium on Saturday night as the final of the WillWeGo.com Irish St. Leger concluded it lived up to all expectations in producing an epic finale.

TREATY FAVOURITE WITH REX ON THE DRIFT

In terms of the betting market, it fluctuated greatly on the lead up to the €30,000 decider but one thing for certain was the fact that Clonbrien Treaty would go off favourite. Installed at odds of 5/4, Swords Rex was next best at 10/3 despite drifting, while Sober Glory was available at odds of 4/1. Ballinabola Una was quoted as high as 16/1 one earlier in the day but she was the subject of big support as she went off at 6/1, and the same could be said of Beepers Lariat who was a 12/1 chance at the off. Indeed, Mr Chelm, who had been mightily impressive throughout the Classic was the eventual outside as he drifted to a massive 14/1.

REX EXPLODES FROM BOXES

The general reason for the market drift of Swords Rex was down to how effortlessly Clonbrien Treaty breezed past the 2022 Kirby winner seven days prior, however, Swords Rex had a beautiful draw in trap three and he made full use of this with a bullet-like break to quickly open a one length lead over Beepers Lariat in second, with Mr Chelm and Ballinabola Una battling it out for fourth. Meanwhile, Clonbrien Treaty, despite making his usual moderate start, was pacing up in incredible fashion for James and Muireann Murphy and he was to turn a scarily close second behind the brilliant Swords Rex. Suddenly, it was a rerun of last week’s thrilling semi final.

Holding a one length lead approaching the back straight, it appeared that Barbara Lowndes’ charge had the measure of Clonbrien Treaty on this occasion as he continued to hold all the aces at the midway point. However, despite making it much more difficult for the reigning Con & Annie Kirby champ this time around, he ranged alongside ‘Rex’ as they galloped past the 750-yard box and given he was on the outside, there was a certain inevitability about what was to follow. Further back, and running a phenomenal race to close the gap, was the Peter Cronin-trained Mr Chelm as he displayed his usual burst of back straight power to get into contention. Ballinabola Una was also going along nicely in fourth as she sat some five lengths adrift entering her strongest part of the race, however, both Sober Glory and Beepers Lariat had plenty to do in order to even make the frame.

While Swords Rex continued to hold the slenderest of advantages approaching the penultimate turn, he was railing extremely tightly and in contrast, the wide-running Clonbrien Treaty didn’t have to break stride as he swooped at the crown of the turn to take charge. For the first time in this contest, and with the winning line in sight, Clonbrien Treaty was in front and history was about to be made.

Despite looking like his goose was very much cooked once headed, the battling instincts of Swords Rex were to kick-in shortly after and as Clonbrien Treaty drifted wide off the final turn, Swords Rex railed expertly to provide his connections with one last push for glory. However, it wasn’t to be for this fabulous tracker as Clonbrien Treaty straightened up in sensational fashion to power home and record a half length victory over his kennel companion. A truly epic conclusion to the event, which has seen the son of Pestana and Clonbrien Millie follow up on his Kirby success to create history, the time, although irrelevant, was 29.51. Sober Glory, after completely fluffing his lines at traprise, ran an incredible race to get up for third and it was Mr Chelm, Ballinabola Una and Beepers Lariat thereafter.

Credit : Peter Farrell