Irish Performance of the Week - 31 March 2026
The Con and Annie Kirby Memorial and Easter Cup continued in Ireland last week with exceptional performances to discuss in both competitions.
Ballydoyle Tina leads the Kirby charge
The second round of the Con and Annie Kirby Memorial saw another sub 28-second success for last week’s POW holder Bouncing Monarch but he was usurped by Ballydoyle Tina. On just her 12th career start, she clocked a time just half a length off the track record held by Ballymac Danica, set in the opening round of the Kirby back in 2024. Her litter sister Bikini Bullet is with Belinda Green, last seen in February running Underground Gold to a neck!
At Shelbourne it was the semis of the Easter Cup. Callaway Knegare took his place in the opening semi alongside the reigning POW winner Lennies Tank as well as Droopys Kathleen. His time was the second quickest that he has stopped the clock at over the 550y distance at the track, with his Irish Derby semi-final runner-up effort to Bockos Diamond in 2024 the fastest he has gone.
Ballyea Warrior made it five wins from his first six starts at Galway, landing the final of an A4 competition. His success took him to the top of the tree in terms of times this year over 525y, a clocking that only six dogs bettered in 2025. It will be interesting to see what he is capable of doing at a different track if connections decide that they want to give him a spin somewhere up in class.
Ballinabola Ed is starting to make a bit of an impact at stud, having two on the list this week. Glengar Echo got the job done at Tralee in a decent 28.10. She had made the final of the Juvenile Classic at the same track earlier on this month, so she clearly has a bit of class about her. She is a half-sister to Braveheart Bambi and Clona Ice who were first and second in the Corn Cuchulainn last year.
We don’t discuss Derry winners very often in POW but Velvet George was a debut winner there to make it a double win for Ballinabola Ed, producing a new quickest of the year over 300y. He also has the distinction of being the youngest on the list this week. Hopefully he will be able to back this up as it was an impressive, wide-margin success for one with no prior experience of race action.
