Treaty adds yet another title to incredible CV with Leger defence

CLONBRIEN TREATY added further lustre to his stellar career by becoming the first greyhound in more than 50 years to retain the Irish St Leger title with victory in the €30,000 WillWeGo.com-sponsored final over 550 yards at Limerick on Saturday.

In doing so, Graham Holland's dog became only the third greyhound - and first in over 50 years - to land back-to-back Irish Leger titles while it was an incredible fourth Classic in all for him having won last year's Kirby Memorial at the track plus the Easter Cup at Shelbourne earlier this year.

Owned by James and Muireann Murphy, the 5-4 favourite did not break well but was able to clear fast starting Miami King and Barefoot On Fire by the opening turn and swept into the lead.

He always looked in control from that point and came home one and a half lengths and one length clear of that duo in clocking the second fastest time of the year, 29.28sec, which is the best-ever in a comparable Irish Leger final.

Holland also struck earlier with 2023 Irish Derby champion The Other Kobe who posted 28.18sec for 525 yards but the highlight of the supporting card was a track record run by Ower Cracker over 600 yards.

Trained by Pat Buckley for June and Tony Harvey, he was following up his dual distance final victory over the trip at Shelbourne a week earlier as he made all to score in 32.04sec, one spot better than Blackstone Lacey's mark from last  November.