2023 Irish Greyhound Derby

{{Short description|Annual sporting event in Ireland}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Use Irish English|date=August 2023}}

{{infobox sport event

|name = 2023 Boylesports
Irish Greyhound Derby

|image =

|size =

|caption =

|date_start = Friday 28 July

|date_end = Saturday 2 September

|competitors = 156

|nations =

|prize_money = €300,000 (winner €125,000)

|other =

|venue =

|location = Shelbourne Park

|prev = 2022

|next = 2024

}}

The 2023 Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby took place during July, August and September 2023, with the final being held on 2 September at Shelbourne Park. The competition was sponsored by BoyleSports and the prize money purse was €300,000, of which €125,000 went to the winner.{{cite web|url=https://www.grireland.ie/go-greyhound-racing/our-stadiums/shelbourne-park-greyhound-stadium/plan-your-night/derby/ |title=BOYLESPORTS IRISH GREYHOUND DERBY 2023 |website=Greyhound Racing Ireland|access-date=29 August 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://betting.boylesports.com/2023-boylesports-irish-greyhound-derby-launched-at-shelbourne-park/ |title=2023 BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby Launched At Shelbourne Park |website=Boyle Sports |access-date=29 August 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://sbcnews.co.uk/retail/2023/06/28/boylesports-irish-derby/ |title=BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby 2023 Launch |website=SBC News |access-date=29 August 2023}}

The winner was a black dog called The Other Kobe, trained and bred by Jennifer O'Donnell and owned by Mr Brian Clare and Mr David L'Estrange.{{cite web|url=https://www.radiokerry.ie/sport/irish-derby-won-by-the-other-kobe-345491 |title=Irish Derby won by The Other Kobey |website=Radio Kerry |date=4 September 2023}} It was O'Donnell's second consecutive Irish Derby victory, having won the event in 2022 with The Other Kobe's brother Born Warrior. The Other Kobe and Born Warrior were not only the first full siblings to win the Derby but they were also from the same litter.

Details

The first round was held on 28 & 29 July, second round on 4 & 5 August, third round on 12 August, quarter finals on 19 August and semi finals on 26 August.

In the antepost betting three greyhounds headed the market at 10/1; they were Coolavanny Hoffa, Ballinabola Ed and Clona Duke. They were closely followed by Kirby Memorial champion Clonbrien Treaty, Easter Cup champion Swords Rex and Ballymac Marino at 14/1. Other big names to compete were 2023 English Greyhound Derby champion Gaytime Nemo, 2022 English Greyhound Derby champion Romeo Magico, St Leger champion Bobsleigh Dream, Champion Stakes winner Trinity Junior and the recent Dundalk International winner Raha Mofo.

Quarter finals

{{col-begin}}

{{col-4}}

class="wikitable"
colspan="6"|Heat 1 (Aug 19)
width=20|Pos

!width=150|Name

!width=40|SP

!width=40|Time

style="background: #f4caf9;"

!1st

| De Lahdedah

7/429.31
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!2nd

| Seven Beach

9/129.80
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!3rd

| Raha Mofo

6/129.81
4th

|Tommys Hewick||11/2||29.88

5th

| Garfinney Blaze||40/1||29.90

6th

| Scaglietti||6/4f||29.97

{{col-4}}

class="wikitable"
colspan="6"|Heat 2 (Aug 19)
width=20|Pos

!width=150|Name

!width=40|SP

!width=40|Time

style="background: #f4caf9;"

!1st

| Bens Teddy

2/1f29.39
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!2nd

| Bockos Crystal

9/429.70
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!3rd

|Threesixfive

16/129.77
4th

| Clonbrein Treaty||4/1||29.91

5th

| Droopys Nice One||11/1||29.92

6th

| Droopys Bro||4/1||30.06

{{col-4}}

class="wikitable"
colspan="6"|Heat 3 (Aug 19)
width=20|Pos

!width=150|Name

!width=40|SP

!width=40|Time

style="background: #f4caf9;"

!1st

|The Other Kobe

5/129.15
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!2nd

| Trinity Junior

11/229.36
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!3rd

| Coolavanny Hoffa

11/10f29.46
4th

| Mr Chelm||7/2||29.53

5th

| Ballymac Marino||6/1||29.67

6th

| Dromana Dano||50/1||29.85

{{col-4}}

class="wikitable"
colspan="6"|Heat 4 (Aug 19)
width=20|Pos

!width=150|Name

!width=40|SP

!width=40|Time

style="background: #f4caf9;"

!1st

|Clonroosk Sydney

3/129.55
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!2nd

| Well Met

10/329.56
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!3rd

| Music Gildeaway

11/129.58
4th

| Undulation||6/1||29.75

5th

| Bobsleigh Dream||6/5f||29.82

6th

| Millridge Levi||40/1||30.10

{{col-end}}

Semi finals

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

class="wikitable"
colspan="6"|First semi final (Aug 26)
width=30|Pos

!width=150|Name of Greyhound

!width=50|SP

!width=50|Time

!width=120|Trainer

style="background: #f4caf9;"

!1st

|Music Glideaway

5/129.32Guilfoyle
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!2nd

| Well Met

15/829.60Jones
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!3rd

| Threesixfive

11/129.63Phelan
4th

| Clonroosk Sydney||8/1||30.02||Harte

5th

| Seven Beach||8/1||30.12||O'Donnell

6th

|Trinity Junior||7/4f||30.26||Cronin

{{col-2}}

class="wikitable"
colspan="6"|Second semi final (Aug 26)
width=30|Pos

!width=150|Name of Greyhound

!width=50|SP

!width=50|Time

!width=120|Trainer

style="background: #f4caf9;"

!1st

|The Other Kobe

5/129.58O'Donnell
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!2nd

| Bens Teddy

10/129.635Buckley
style="background: #f4caf9;"

!3rd

| Bockos Crystal

7/129.70Holland
4th

| Coolavanny Hoffa||2/1||29.75||O'Donovan

5th

|De Lahdedah||6/4f||30.00||Dowling

6th

|Raha Mofo||20/1 ||30.03 ||Leahy

{{col-end}}

Final

At Shelbourne Park (over 550 yards):

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"

!width=30| Position

!width=200|Greyhound

!width=300|Breeding

!width=20|Trap

!width=30|Sectional

!width=50|SP

!width=80|Time

!width=150|Comment

!width=150|Trainer

1st

|The Other Kobe||Ballymac Best – Mountaylor Queen||2||3.41||3/1||29.11||FAw, ALed||Jennifer O'Donnell

2nd

| Bockos Crystal||Droopys Sydney – Vigorous Hilary||5||3.44||4/1||29.14||ChlRunIn, FinWell||Graham Holland

3rd

| Bens Teddy||Droopys Sydney – Beechgrove Bell||3||3.53||11/4f||29.21||Imp3, StrFin||Pat Buckley

4th

|Threesixfive||Droopys Sydney – Dunquin Anna||4||3.54||28/1||29.42||SAw, ClrRun||Scott Phelan

5th

|Well Met||Ballymac Best – Corduff Flame||1||3.51||11/2||29.77||Rls1&2,FcdToCk3||John Jones

6th

| Music Glideaway||Newinn Taylor – Glideaway Magic||6||3.46||7/2||29.84||Crd½, RnOn||Patrick Guilfoyle

= Distances =

neck, 1, 3, 5, 1

(0.07 sec = one length)

Competition report

The most notable incident in round one was the elimination of Swords Rex and the second round also saw two major shocks, with the eliminations of Gaytime Nemo and Ballinabola Ed. Scaglietti was fastest in the second round with a 29.26 heat win and 2022 runner-up Ballymac Finn was a non runner.{{cite web|url=https://www.grireland.ie/results/view-results/?track=SPK&date=04-Aug-2023 |title=Second round results |website=Greyhound Racing Ireland|access-date=29 August 2023}}

Bobsleigh Dream started round three with a 29.29 win and this was followed by a very fast 29.12 winner in De Lahdedah. Scaglietti won in fine style again but the competition ended for Clona Duke and Romeo Magico.{{cite web|url=https://www.grireland.ie/results/view-results/?track=SPK&date=12-Aug-2023 |title=Third round results |website=Greyhound Racing Ireland|access-date=29 August 2023}}

In the first quarter final De Lahdedah was an easy winner (29.31) in a heat that saw Scaglietti knocked out. Bens Teddy won the next in a time of 29.39, Clonbrien Treaty and Droppys Nice One were both eliminated. The Other Kobe recorded a fast 29.15 to defeat Trinity Junior and Collavanny Hoffa but Ballymac Marino could only manage fifth. The final heat was won by Clonrook Sydney in 29.55 and also saw the elimination of Bobsleigh Dream.{{cite web|url=https://www.grireland.ie/results/view-results/?track=SPK&date=29-Jul-23 |title=Quarter final results |website=Greyhound Racing Ireland|access-date=29 August 2023}}

Few would have predicted the remaining 12 greyhounds for the semi finals as many new names lined up attempting to reach the grand final. The trend continued as Music Glideaway, Well Met and Threesixfive finished in the first three places of the first semi final, the trio missed the trouble out of the traps that accounted for Trinity Junior. In the second semi final the shocks continued as The Other Kobe defeated Bens Teddy and Bockos Crystal, while Coolavanny Hoffa, De Lahdedah and Raha Mofo all disappointed and went out.{{cite web|url=https://www.grireland.ie/results/view-results/?track=SPK&date=26-Aug-2023 |title=Semi final results |website=Greyhound Racing Ireland|access-date=29 August 2023}}

In the final, The Other Kobe made an impressive start out of the traps and led all the way for a deserved victory, despite a very late challenge by Bockos Crystal. Bens Teddy finished well but had given the leaders too much of a lead, which also applied to Threesixfive. Well Met found a little crowing at the third bend but was beaten at this stage anyway and Music Glideway never got into the race.

See also

References