The greyhound derby

Unfortunately I did not see the race , or hear the result . Sounds like it was a great night ( for the Irish anyway).

The greyhound scene though generally has lapsed into the backwaters except for the relatively few involved .  Pity , it was once a considerable feature all over these isles and gave a lot of joy to the whole populace . Anything which can boost the sport is worth a try . Maybe a few posters on here might help , cant do any harm .

Care to qualify that statement Kelly lapsed into backwaters? When is the last time you have been greyhound racing?

P Fantasy is top man when it comes to greyhounds , Gant is another ,sadly they hardly ever visit here anymore . Paul Hennessey is a gent , I was delighted for him . Pat Buckley never seems to get the rub of the green in the final , his 3dog found a lot of trouble , I think it would havewon with a clear run . Niall Quinn saying his father had died came as a shock . I often gave Billy a lift home from H.X. R.I.P.

It was a brilliant night in Wimbledon

Gave you a bell ,doubt you were able to anwer it .....

After Romford on Friday, Wimbledon on Saturday and missing the flight home Sunday my body was so broken I could not get out of bed at all yesterday

It was a brilliant Derby final and the draw done the trick for me. Roddick ran a belter after getting awful early crowding, was always gonna happen with Peregrine Falcon outside him and Rocky inside. Hiya Butt ran his heart out, he goes Sunderland Classic next where if he takes to the track will take all the besting, Lenson Rocky ran brilliant for one so inexperienced going into the comp, the race didn't go to plan for the other 2 and they never really got into it. Was some break from Jaytee Jet considering the problems they'd had with him, done a 4:71 when it really mattered.

What you MISSING a flight ! has this ever happened before... Delighted you had a great time ,plenty of coffee ,and a couple of asprin and you'll be as right as rain next week...

I miss the final myself [away on holidays ] i had a look at it when i came home yesterday on youtube , a wonderful race, i backed a few at the early stages; only falcon made it to the final for me. Glad to see you had a good time P.F. . I look forward to the irish greyhound derby [one of my fav sporting events.]

Is the first time ever that a dog was out of the event having failed to qualify and then went on to win it?

Just looking back - Maybe it was a dead heat and both were allowed through rather than having a run off or a draw for the qualifier. Slightly different alright.

Camira Flash back in the 60s was let back in after a dog got DQ'd

Jet never would have been out though, he was 1.01 for the run off against Badmoonrising but I get where ya are coming from, his name was on the trophy after that

Sounds crazy but I thought he did not even run the track that well on Saturday as I thought he was a little awkward around the bend and gave up ground after his great break. There could be plenty of improvement if they can get him right at Shelbourne.

He had problems with a small tear of the whip muscle and Kevin was telling me in the club later they'd other problems during the week.

He definitely was unable to hold his position around the bends

Rocketfingers , have not been greyhound racing since Dunmore closed . Dunmore was probably the biggest ( and best) galloping track in these isles , but sadly went the way of numerous other tracks . I understand there is no track in London , used to be dozens . There were over 40,000 at a greyhound meeting in Celtic Park ( Belfast , the first track in Ireland ) in the thirties .

Compare that to meetings now , there are two men and a boy at the track in Ballyskeagh near Belfast ( and occasionally 3 bookies , normally less --one of those bookies verified this to me about 6 months ago ).

Gives me no pleasure to air this view , would that the sport would return to a rightful position as medium to mass entertainment , dont think it does in present mode .

It's time to except it is no longer 1930 and we won't be getting 40k attendances, ffs the National soccer team only barely gets that and the big horse race meet struggle to get those numbers.
There is only 1 track left in London, Wimbledon but for how long who knows. Romford and Crayford are both on just outside London.
Comparing attendances from Celtic Park in the 1930s to Drumbo Park in 2016 is ridiculous and a pointless exercise.

Premier , figures such as mine are to make a point . That you might consider it pointless is neither here not there to me , it is a measure of how things have changed , not for the better for the doggie men ( and women) . I grew up with greyhound people , Mick Horan trained my fathers dogs and a lot of punting emanated from those quarters . Two of my fathers friends won Greyhound Derbies , Billy O'Kane and Jack McAllister . The tracks were busy then , they are not now , that is the point .

So it's 20 years since you have been to a track, as Premier says it's not 1930 Kelly fgs sake give us a break man.

Que Wildbore telling us how angry we all are

Guess I will have to apologise to you Rocketfingers re my non attendance at the dogs . Shame on me . And I guess that disqualifies any views I have on the sport  , past and present . Stop sniping just for the sake of it .

Ok how does it qualify you for having one? You have not been for 20 years !

Rocketfingers , has anything changed in how dog races are run in the last 20 years ( or 70 even ) . If it has please elaborate and I will withdraw any remarks I have made . Fair enough ? If it hasn't changed maybe you will apologise .

It's like to turn that around and ask you what makes you think nothing has changed?

Waiting for a post setting out how dog racing has changed in the last 20 years , rocketfingers . Guess if it hasn't you will slink away .

the dead heat was a strange one..a lad i know laid one dog in the derby  the winner..66/1 before its easter cup win..he never looke dthe winner till last 2 metres..

Kelly as i said you made the comment, you obviously think it has changed too and got worse, all i am asking is what are you basing your opinion on? Now you have not answered and will not answer.

Rocketfingers , stop dodging the issue , and trying to put words into my mouth .

You implied that I had no valid opinion on dog racing since I had not been to a dog meeting since Dunmore closed ( probably less than 20 years ago ) .

If dog racing has changed in its basic format in the last 20 years perhaps you could inform me ( and the rest of the forum) in simple terms . If you cannot substantiate your point , stop sniping and accept that there are valid views out here which do not warrant snipers .

Your opening post was excellent , I was the first to respond on it , yet you choose to snipe and not respond to a perfectly valid request .

Kelly....Times are different but I know your heart is in the right place when it comes to the greyhounds.

A great night in Wimbledon on Saturday. Fair play to black and amber kennels, it's a tough few weeks but credit where credit is due.

Gant , the times they are different .  Any sport where there is wagering involved as part of the equation needs crowds ( and punters and layers) . Take away any of those 3 factors and you have a problem .  Sounds like Saturday was a great occasion , not least for those directly involved . Pity there are not more nights/days like that .  We certainly miss the odd big nights we experienced up to Dunmore closing ( and Celtic Park was probably more popular than Dunmore to be fair , it was after all the birthplace of track racing in Ireland ) .

Greyhound racing faces a few big problems here at the moment, we have an inept bunch of people in charge and the drug testing needs to be outsourced.

A few people who left during the downturn are slowly coming back into the game.

We have to keep the faith and not go like Rocketfingers and  blame the bigger sports for our own failings.

Madness from Kelly coming on here and trying to preech to lads who love their dogs, you are lecturing to people after admitting you have not gone to the dogs for circa 25 or 30 years +, it's nearly laughable.

To be fair Kelly is correct to a point. The good days will come again.

Those days will never come back, we are starting to see a real surge in crowds at Shelbourne again on Saturday nights and Harolds Cross on Friday nights but if we even get back to the days of the mid 2000s we will be doing well, it will never see anything like what Kelly describes.

get new people in to run the igb and greyghound racing will have a better chance

pf,big crowd of punters in spark

big crowd of sightseers at hx

Poorpup....I agree but greyhound folk are not very good at sticking together.

Aye, sure i would be the same, when i do go HRX it ain't to bet

It's been good to see the crowds start to pick up again even if it does make it a pain in the rear end to get to the bar but we need it to continue all year round and not just the summer months and Christmas time, we need it to apply to more tracks as well.
We need better policing in the game, i am not saying he or her are doing wrong with their dogs (not getting into that) but the fact that so much of the industry do not believe in the integrity of the game is a massive problem.
Then we need more prize money, get it rising towards the level is was at in the mid to late 2000s before it went crash.

Rocketfingers , what is laughable is your inability to debate a point and your inept attempt to belittle my comments .

Good to hear that there has been some resurgence at Shelbourne , albeit I suspect at weekends mainly . I was there every night during my 2 years living in Dublin . Not that I observed anything about the game rocketfingers .

Premier Fantasy is the best man on here regarding greyhounds, he makes his own prices and they are better than the lads at the track, he has already commented on Kelly's nonsense and yet Kelly can't take the hint. It must must be 35 years since he has been racing and comes on here preeching to PF and the other greyhound lads, can't make it up.

PF...We all know the offenders and a good blitz by an outside testing company would weed them out. Bans and big fines.

Confidence in the sports will bring in sponsors who at the moment wouldn't touch the sport with a barge pole.
Things are looking up, over 130 for trials at one track last week.

Stop trying to hide behind others , rocketfingers .  Stand on your own two feet and answer in what way has dog racing changed in last 20 years . 20 years ( nearly , probably) has now stretched to 35 rocketfingers , just proves you cant figure .

Hennessy himself has been done in the past, hasn't he?

Yes Dan

Kelly you are making a total fool of yourself here mate, you have tied yourself in knots over this, you have been found out to be bluffing and not being able to answer the questions you have been asked by the forum. You have not been racing 30 something years, but come on here giving it the large one you can't make it up.

Rocketfingers.....Greyhound racing is like the League of Ireland, it lost the hearts and minds of the crowds. Dublin clubs used to get 5 figure crowds in the 1980's.

buying dogs from the sales recently has become a major joke, terrible on the ones who have bought geared up dogs  from there

Dont like the word fool , rocketfingers .  But your attempts to belittle valid comments make you look like the fool , not least by your inability to see the difference between 20 , 30 and 35 , all of which most of us learnt at kindergarten .

I never bluff ( except occasionally at poker ) .  Anything I post is fact based and most based on personal experience .  15 years plus on here also proves something .

Poorpup....And you have others using the sales as an excuse.

15 years plus on here also proves something

Yeah, that you are a long-winded, boring, name-dropping spoofer constantly harping on about the past.

Thought you had gone away , Ozy .

Good one Ozy......I bet Rocketfingers is seething he posted under the wrong name.

I got the nod about the lunch by text so poked my nose in to bang a few heads together.  Just for old times sake

And Ozy , history is a great educator . Particularly if it is valid and proven .  Suggest you look up those "name drops" in my posts to verify them . Premier Fantasy probably knows them , particularly if the very good doggy book produced some years ago was read ( mind you there was a lot of certain periods left out , mainly re northern based activity ).

Ger McKenna was a neighbour of ours,a much respected brilliant man.
We waited a long long time for Parkdown Jet.

Mick The Miller probably the most famous greyhound of all time won the Derby twice in The White City in front of crowds of upwards of a 100,000.

We all accept these times aren't coming back but it would be great to see an upturn in the fortunes of greyhound racing.

If you were a gambler in those days the only thing you gambled on were horses and dogs.
England unlike Ireland didnt have betting shops til 1962 so if you wanted a bet you went to the races or your local dog track.
I went to The White City in the sixties ( walked home on more than one occasion ) and the atmosphere was fantastic,the crowds were dwindling then but still around 40,000.

Horse racing has the same problems as greyhound racing,there's no need to go anymore.
The lad in the betting shop sees as much as the racegoer and now gets better concessions ( double result ) for small stakes.
Even the betting shop is being bypassed by time,all the growth in betting is on line.

Going racing is one of life's great pleasures,I recommend it to anyone.
Wexford is on Wednesday,it will be a quiet jumping meeting but go along you may be surprised how enjoyable it is..

I would strongly recommend giving Wexford a swerve , basement horses, basement bookies, prison food and a rubbish racecourse , well that's my reading of the kip.
I never forget the Friday evening I went to the dive, and sold out on the first favourite in a maiden hurdle . Now I'm not exaggerating it hadn't rained in a month , and the ground was officially good to firm . My little animal who was suited to fast conditions put in a very laboured effort and was well and truly beaten . Went to the parade ring to see had it bled or maybe picked up an injury but although the horse seemed fine , to my amazement there was spatterings of mud on the jockeys breeches , so on the way to the weighing room I just asked two of the jockeys involved in the race, what was the ground, and both replied soft.
That tells you all you need to know about Wexford , and Dan I'm not mistaking the restaurant down there either , I know exactly what one you are taking about .
If the inmates in Mountjoy were getting that daily they'd be on the roof in no time

Incorrect ground descriptions are a bugbear of mine.
If Wexford gave out ( which I doubt ) a good to firm verdict and it was soft that's pure wrong,the reason I doubt it is tracks normally try to persuade trainers to run their horses by not giving extremities of going.

Also and this is not meant in a bad way you must shoulder some of the blame as you should have checked the ground yourself.
To me the ground is the most important consideration when having a bet.

I know there's a bit of skitting between us on the food and that half Alsation half poodle that travels with you but I ate in that restaurant alongside the parade ring and thought it was excellent,it was a carvery.

Sums it up , wildman . TV one of the big culprits in changing the times .

Just for the record , who trained Mick the Miller to his first Derby success ?

I know he was whelped in Offaly and owned by a priest but not sure who trained him.

I think he was trained in Ireland for his first Derby success and then sold on and trained in England.

How could I have checked the ground Dan?, it hadn't rained in ages, it's a summer track catering for summer horses, it was safe to assume that the ground was going to be quick. Would you feel that any punter should need to walk the track in fairyhouse today ?, of course they wouldn't .
It will be good to firm or maybe even quicker , it won't be soft . The game is difficult enough without idiots altering the ground , they may as well have made the 2m races 3mile ones , as over watering is as big a game changer as any .
Now as for the facilities , they are primeval and that's being kind, it's a hurdy gurdy racecourse with third world catering as far as I'm concerned.
If I hadn't eaten for a week I wouldn't darken the door of that restaurant . Sorry eating place, it doesn't deserve the term restaurant

Wikopedia has the trainer down as "Paddy" Horan , but its Wiko so you dont believe all you read . Some ( English) person presumably assumed that all Irish people were "paddy" .  Actual trainer ( as at Shelbourne Park in those early days ) was Mick Horan . Mick moved north ( marriage probably , his wife Rose was local ) trained at Craigavad just beyond Holywood , Co Down . Official slipper for Irish coursing club for some times I think , as also was his son Adrian . Mick trained my fathers dogs  , my father was a firm believer in having the best on your side .

Adrian worked at Dunmore as assistant racing manager for years with Sam Young until it closed .  Have not seen Adrian for years , since Dunmore closed only a couple of times  ( in the  bookies in Holywood )  , think Adrian was also involved with Ballyskeagh in its early days . Doggy men ( current) may know .

The one thing about Wexford is the ground varies on different parts of the track.
Some of the track has a seashell shaley base,you can actually get good ground going into patches of soft ground.
I know this sounds like an excuse but its the only track in Ireland where that happens.

If I was in Fairyhouse and younger bloody sure I would walk the track for the very reasons you've given.
Nowadays I'd loaf around the track waiting for someone who had walked the track to return and I'd ask him.

Its not a bad idea to watch who is walking the track,it can give you some clues.
A trainer Mincer used to heap a lot of opprobrium on has a brother who always walks the track.

Aidan OBrien nearly always walks the Curragh and brings all his jockeys with him.

Due to my poor education Wildman i sometimes have to look up the correct meaning of a word, a case in point is your fine word op·pro·bri·um 

1. Disgrace arising from exceedingly shameful conduct; ignominy.
2. Scornful reproach or contempt: a term of opprobrium,           i cant help feeling that some posters on here have got the wrong end of stick , some have gone and some remain and some may look in now then.    I hope some of them return; but im not holding my breath.