Tales of triumph and tragedy

For those more used to the muck, mud, rain and cold of deep winter that normally accompanies their favourite sport, it was positively balmy in Clonmel yesterday for the first day of the 83rd running of the annual National Coursing Meeting.

The sun beamed over the shoulder of the Comeraghs from early morning, the snow disappeared from the head of noble Slievenamon, and by 11.45 - the first buckle of the meet, the opening round of the Oaks - there was a smile on the collective face of Powerstown Park. And what a collective. Men, women, boys, girls, from every corner of this island, from various outposts of the island next door – why, there was even a visitor from Jordan. When Abdul Shmashn married Deirdre Quinlan he wasn’t just gaining a wife, he was marrying into a tradition, a full-Monty coursing clan, and there he was yesterday, thoroughly enjoying the fare on the course, serving his apprenticeship during the interval as he prepared a succession of hot whiskey and port punch orders for the motley crew who gather round Anne’s generous improvised table.

Down at slips, however, a problem – the phone bell wouldn’t stop ringing, the dogs wouldn’t settle, and Brian Divilly, owner/breeder/trainer (along with partner Noelle McCarthy and their sons Peter and Shane) of the waiting Crafty Kalisto, was forced to take action, did a little disconnecting, and the show was on the road. Actually, he was a busy man all day, was Brian; featured in these pages on Friday last, the Crafty kennels (the Divilly brand) had two qualifiers in the Oaks, four in the Derby, so that all four Divillys (along with helpful first-cousin Olivia Roche) had a track worn from their pitch down by the stables, to slips, to escape, and back again.