BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby, Shelbourne Park

THE BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby is the pinnacle of the sport in Ireland and is generally staged at Shelbourne Park in August/September but has moved temporarily to an October/November slot for 2024 due to redevelopment work at the Dublin stadium.

The competition was first held at Harold's Cross in 1928 when Billy Quinn's Tipperary Hills was successful although it only officially became a Classic, known as the National Derby, when controversially switched to Shelbourne Park in 1932.

The first winner at the Ringsend stadium was Mick Horan's Guideless Joe and the competition then alternated between Shelbourne Park and Harold's Cross until taking up permanent residency at Shelbourne in 1970, save for single stagings in 1939 and 1942 at the now-closed venues of Limerick's Market Fields and Cork's Western Road respectively.

Spanish Battleship is the undoubted Irish Derby Hall of Fame having won the Classic three years in a row - a Shelbourne success in 1954 sandwiched by Harold's Cross victories in 1953 and 1955.

His trainer, Tom Lynch, subsequently won with Russian Gun in 1967 and those four victories tie brother-in-law Gay McKenna [Ballyowen Chief 1965, Always Proud 1966, Monalee Pride 1971 and Catsrock Daisy 1972] as winningmost handler.

There have been two British-trained winners in the shape of John Bassett's Yellow Printer in 1968 and Nick Savva's Toms The Best in 1997 on the occasion when another UK runner, Some Picture, had to settle for fifth when attempting to complete an unprecedented triple crown of Scottish, English and Irish Derby titles.

The competition was run over 525 yards until 1985 and over 550 yards from 1986.

The two most recent renewals have been won by Jennifer O'Donnell-trained litter-brothers, namely Born Warrior in 2022 and The Other Kobe in 2023.

Those victories added to an amazing family story with both O'Donnell's parents, the late Matt [The Other Toss 1990, Ardfert Mick 1991 and Batties Rocket 1995] and Frances [Skywalker Puma 2012] having also landed the Classic as did her aunt Dolores Ruth [Razldazl Billy 2006 & Razldazl George 2011].

This year's BoyleSports Irish Derby is due to start on Friday 18th October with the final scheduled for Saturday 23rd November. Every heat in every round is live on SIS.