Three dogs vie for top award

THE greyhounds of the year will be honoured at a lunchtime function in Limerick on Sunday, March 7th and the nominations for the various awards were selected at a meeting in Shelbourne Park last week.

Not surprisingly, the brilliant Irish Derby winner College Causeway is among the three nominations, along with Derby, Laurels and Masters runner-up Oran Classic and the Masters and Grand Prix winner Broadacres Turbo.

The three bitches nominated for the female award won four Oaks titles between them. Skywalker Queen won the Irish Oaks and the Dundalk International while Cabra Tiny did the Munster and Southern Oaks double and Maireads Fantasy won the Cork Oaks and later went off favourite to win the Irish Oaks final.

One of the strongest categories is the marathon where the three nominations include the Corn Cuchulainn winner Corporate Attack, Barrys Tea 750 and Hegarty Marathon winner Ferdia Bound and the IGB National 750 winner Rough Quest.

In the sprint category we have the Irish Sprint Cup winner Inny Blue, the prolific winning Aho Tony and the Waterford Guineas and Lifford Super Sprint winner Carlows Pride.

The remaining award is for Brood Bitches and the final contenders are Cabra Dancer, dam of Scottish Derby winner Cabra Cool and the aforementioned Cabra Tina; College Tina, dam of the Derby winner College Causeway, and Maybe Baby, dam of Maireads Fantasy, Rossa Baby, Slick Sioux, etc.

The venue for the presentation will be the Strand Hotel in Limerick. Tickets are on sale through the IGB or the Sales Centre (1890 269 969)

Greyhound Awards contenders:

Dog of Year: Broadacres Turbo, College Causeway, Oran Classic.

Bitch of Year: Cabra Tiny, Maireads Fantasy, Skywalker Queen

Sprinter: Aho Tony, Carlows Pride, Inny Blue.

Marathon: Corporate Attack, Ferdia Bound, Rough Quest

Brood Bitch: Cabra Dancer, College Tina, Maybe Baby.