BILLY Roche and Sean Kane both drove doubles at Portmarnock’s penultimate meeting last Sunday. Billy scored on two pacers both by ‘The Winner Factory’ i.e. Kikicolt. Fittingly, Sean’s two winners came with two Trotteurs Français, for the Naul yard really embraced the ‘Le Trot’ programme since its inception.

Sean cannot mathematically win either the national driving title or the Portmarnock championship but it is rumoured that Billy and John Richardson are locked in a tight battle going into tomorrow’s closing meeting. I chose the word ‘rumoured’ carefully as information about the drivers’ standings has been almost non-existent.