The showpiece of the greyhound racing season takes place at Shelbourne Park tonight - the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby.

The hot favourite is Sonic, who is as low as 5/4 after winning in the semi-finals last week.

Sonic is owned by Marian Moloney of Cork and trained by Tipperary's Graham Holland.

"He showed exceptional form as a pup. We spotted him from day one," Marian's husband Pat told RTÉ Sport. "We thought we had a Derby prospect but we thought it would be 2017. 

"We decided we'd give him to Graham, no better man, and everything has steamrolled from there on.

"He can run from most traps but four would be his choice. He has that in the final thanks be to God.

"Last Saturday he was very impressive. There were great dogs inside and outside him but he took the bend and it was history after that.

"We're very happy and proud to be in the final."

The second-favourite is the other semi-final winner Rural Hawaii (4/1),  also trained by Holland but owned by mother and son Helen and Michael O'Dwyer.

Helen lives in Clonmel but Michael is based in Maui, Hawaii where he owns the island's only Irish pub.

"My mum Helen O'Dwyer raised him at home," said Michael. "He ran in the Derby last year and was a little unlucky.

"He's been coming into form and was a finalist in the Laurels so he looks like he's improving as he goes along.

"He runs outside, wide out off the last bend. He's got a heart of gold and he's as genuine as they come.

"Trap six is where he should be."

Michael was en route back to Ireland when Rural Hawaii won his semi-final.

"I was coming home from abroad. I didn't plan that I was coming to be in the Derby final but I was in the air and I had 5% left on my phone," he said.

"I turned it on, paid for the internet, got a couple of texts and the phone died but at least I knew he'd qualified! It meant a lot.

"I live in Maui, Hawaii. I've lived there for the last 20 years. I have an Irish pub there called Mulligans on the Blue, where everyone will be watching on Saturday.

"We're going to hook up the live stream from RTÉ to the big screen. Hawaiians are going to learn a lot about Greyhound racing by the time the week is out."

Holycross Leah, Sidarian Pearl, Ballymac Matt and Escapism complete the field for the race, which is live on RTÉ2 from 8pm on Saturday night.