Monarch into 11/8 for Irish Derby glory as the last 12 looms

BOYLE Sports Irish Greyhound Derby is down to 12

Four weeks down, two remain in the 2026 renewal of the BOYLE Sports Irish Greyhound Derby. It has been an exceptional competition to this point and with just three races remaining to find the new champion, that doesn't look like changing.

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11/8 Bouncing Monarch

4/1 Wi Can James

5/1 Waitingforastar

12/1 Hackney Dancer

16/1 Coloursaregreen, Im Here, Low Profile

20/1 Sleight Of Hand

25/1 Bockos Gold, Croydon Avenger

50/1 Glengar Phantom, Priceless Romeo

Semi-final 1

The six runners in the opening semi will all be happy to have avoided Bouncing Monarch, and with that, connections of each of them will have genuine hopes of making it into the final. 

Waitingforastar lost his unbeaten record in the competition in the quarter-finals when behind Low Profile but his strong running style has served him well to this point. 

In a similar vein, Hackney Dancer also lost his unbeaten record last Saturday night, this time at the paws of Sleight Of Hand who had set the joint-quickest opening round time alongside Bouncing Monarch. Im Here was further back in third on that occasion.

Croydon Avenger picked up his first win of the competition on Saturday night, getting on the bunny from the same red jacket that he will sport this weekend. He prevailed by a length over the re-opposing Coloursaregreen.

Although Bockos Gold is the outsider of the bunch here, Graham Holland's runner was a stunning winner in his final prep race for this competition and is more than capable of making the decider. 

6/4 Waitingforastar

7/2 Hackney Dancer

5/1 Coloursaregreen, Im Here

6/1 Croydon Avenger

10/1 Bockos Gold

Semi-final 2

In four rounds, Bouncing Monarch is yet to put a foot wrong, clocking 29.10, 29.11, 29.08 and 29.13. To have that sort of consistency in a Derby is testament to the dog himself and Michael O'Donovan who has been exceptional with the Kirby winner. His 3.35 split was the best of his sectionals so far, having the race won within a matter of strides.

Wi Can James managed to find his way though a tricky quarter-final that didn't go his way from a draw out in five. He will sport red on Saturday night, and the last time that he had this jacket on his back he scored in a sparkling 27.88 over 525y. He has a 29.10 on his card from his third round win, so we could be set for fireworks.

Low Profile and Sleight Of Hand are no slouches to the line first time either so there is plenty of pace inside Bouncing Monarch to make this a proper test for him. Both Glengar Phantom and Priceless Romeo would appear to need trouble on the inside to figure but the former has some early boot and the latter is a strong-running wide, so it would be foolish to completely disregard them.

8/11 Bouncing Monarch

3/1 Wi Can James

6/1 Low Profile

13/2 Sleight Of Hand

20/1 Glengar Phantom

25/1 Priceless Romeo