Flintoff aims; Irish View.

Byline: Michael Fortune

WHILE Andrew Flintoff and his colleagues are preparing for this year's Ashes series, his canine namesake will be bidding to enhance an already mighty reputation when he contests the second round of the IGB Open Unraced at Clonmel on Sunday.

Magna Flintoff, to give him his proper name, made a sensational, but far from unexpected, debut at Clonmel last weekend when winning by almost nine lengths in 28.69sec at odds of 1-3.

Having trialled in very impressively at Belle Vue, Sheffield and Clonmel, Albert Draper's dog was well prepared for his racing bow and made no mistake.

Trained by Graham Holland, the son of Brett Lee and Farloe Princess now bids to build on his excellent debut but may not have things all his own way next time up.

Magna Flintoff goes in heat two and will be opposed by fellow heat winners Clash Youmaysay and Borna Gael.

But if he can repeat last week's run, one suspects that the firms will be introducing him into Blue Square English Derby betting lists.

The other big talking dog of the opening round was Express Rock, and he didn't even win! A member of the repeat Top Honcho-Airport Express litter, he had qualified in most exciting fashion, including a scorching 15.94sec for the sprint at Limerick.

He went off a quite ludicrous 1-10 favourite for his debut, but met with traffic problems and failed by a length to catch Loughbeag Mower in 29.78sec.

However, don't be surprised if he improves on that by a second with a clear run.