Strong Irish hand in Maiden final - including the 'home' runners

THE £10,000 BetGoodwin & JR Racing Syndicate Maiden Derby final over 500m at Towcester on Easter Sunday will have a real international flavour to it with three UK-based and three Irish hopefuls.

As is often the case in these restricted competitions, even the 'home' team have plenty of recent Irish experience with Indian Bonnie the earliest to cross the water having not raced in Ireland since October.

Jason Heath's Burrows Charm, who was third behind subsequent Irish Derby champion Bockos Diamond in the first round of the Classic when known as Beanos Podge before claiming the scalp of Irish Cesarewitch champion Singalong Dolly in the second, was fastest in the semis with a 28.82sec (+10) victory.

However, Paul Hennessy's Lennies Desire heads the betting with co-sponsor BetGoodwin after drawing trap one following a trouble-marred run behind Graham Holland-trained compatriot Val Tashadelek (29.07sec) where qualification looked unlikely for much of the contest.

Hennessy, last year's winning trainer, did land a semi-final courtesy of Hello Diego who otstayed Ballybough Nutz, who represents co-sponsors the JR Racing Syndicate and is one two finalists for Maxine Locke alongside Indian Bonnie.

BetGoodwin (Maiden Derby, final Sunday): T1 Lennies Desire 6/4, T2 Ballybough Nutz 12/1, T3 Burrows Charm 11/4, T4 Val Tashadelek 11/2, T5 Hello Diego 7/2, T6 Indian Bonnie 16/1.

Semi 1: 1st T3 Burrows Charm 28.82sec, trainer Jason Heath

Semi 2: 1st T5 Hello Diego 29.05sec, trainer Paul Hennessy

Semi 3: 1st T1 Val Tashadelek 29.07sec, trainer Graham Holland