Bookmakers’ Derby night turnover suggests recovery still very much a work in progress

Derby final night last Saturday at Shelbourne would have to be deemed a great success. The stadium was packed, the action was brisk, the atmosphere was good, and the final itself produced a winner, Laughil Blake, who, in leading around despite a modest break, showed he possessed a touch of brilliance befitting a champion.

I could argue all day that 13 races is too many but I know it’s one I’m going to lose. When you get as big a crowd as they did last weekend, it’s an opportunity not to be missed, and hence the reason the Tote was willing to guarantee every Trio to €5,000 and the one for the Derby final to €20,000.

It’s not every day you get a chance to fill the Tote pools to those extents, enjoying as much as a 30% cut for some bets. The long format is not the preferred option of many trainers or owners, whose dogs have to be kennelled up for hours, but it’s an obvious and inevitable business ploy.

For me, the most interesting facts came in a post-meeting chat with one of the bookmakers. He admitted that, in terms of the number of bets laid, it was as busy as any Derby final night at which he had stood, but that the turnover was about half of what it was in better economic times.

Interestingly and very significantly, he also pointed out that, with very few exceptions, the bigger bets were all in sterling. I think that gives us clear indication of how the recovery in this country is still very much a work in progress.

The sterling situation was no surprise, with a large contingent of British greyhound enthusiasts over for the weekend, starting with the Puppy Derby on Friday night, and some even taking in the Champions’ Weekend meetings at Leopardstown and Curragh.

It probably worked quite well in that sense, though convincing the HRI to start the Leopardstown meeting half an hour earlier might provide an even bigger boost, should the weekends be coordinated on a consistent basis.

It wouldn’t be right to discuss the Derby without giving special mention to those great oldstagers Tyrur Sugar Ray and Ballymac, who finished second and third respectively.

It was announced during the week that Tyrur Sugar Ray has been retired and, while he never managed to make the breakthrough in the premier classic, it was a phenomenal achievement to reach three Irish Derby finals.

We won’t get too many like him in the future, though his stud career has already promised much, with the likes of Tyrur Nathan and Tyrur Supermac looking bright prospects for 2015.

Also, last Thursday night at Curraheen, an April ‘13 bitch, Miss Assumption, made a pretty bright start to her career, winning in 29.40 for Laura O’Donoghue. Two nights later her sire contested the Derby final, and on the same night, at Curraheen, her dam, Tyrur Tess, qualified for the final of an A2 525, which will take place tomorrow night.

If last week’s race was to be Ballymac Vic’s swansong, he, too, has left quite a legacy while also having a stud career which looks set to take off. One of his sons, Baile Mhic, went fastest in the first round of the Dublin Coach Puppy Derby at Harold’s Cross, while litter brother Ballymac Gordie caught the eye finishing second behind August Rush.

Moving on from the Derby, the baton has been passed over to Curraheen Park for the next five weeks, with the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish Laurels getting underway on Saturday night.

National Puppy Stake and Race of Champions winner Sidarian Blaze has been installed favourite to give trainer Graham Holland his third win in the race in five years, although there are nine other kennel companions bidding to do the same.

The Laurels and the Derby come very close together but there are very few, if any, greyhounds missing from the line-up due to the proximity of the stakes. The track at Curraheen has been very fast for quite some time, and with a very strong entry, it’s fair to assess we will have fireworks. Could Ballymac Vic’s track record (27.94) be under threat over the next five weekends?

There will be no racing in Tralee on Saturday night, due to the expected exodus from the town for the All-Ireland Senior Football final.

However, tomorrow night’s card will feature the finals of the Frightful Flash A2 (525) and the Kingdom Greyhound Stadium Tri-Distance (550). There will be no official trials on Monday morning, but all will be back to normal on Tuesday.

Yesterday afternoon, the IGB released a statement saying they had agreed a deal with Tote wagering business EEyaa (Gibraltar) Limited to ‘offer betting and streamed video access online to IGB races’.

According to the statement: “Under the agreement, EEyaa will also market and promote tote comingling for IGB on an international basis. EEyaa will engineer the comingling for its shareholders and customers into IGB pools.

“Each week, IGB will offer seven nights racing from a minimum of one meeting per night from the following IGB tracks; Clonmel, Shelbourne, Limerick, Harold’s Cross, Cork, Tralee and Galway.”

A spokesperson for EEyaa, whose customers include bookmaking firm William Hill, said: “Irish greyhounds are a compelling and attractive product for our bookmakers and their audiences. We look forward to working with IGB to promote and develop Irish greyhound racing worldwide.”

Jamie Hart, of William Hill, added: “We are delighted to expand our racing content, adding IGB races to our fixture list.”

That’s the latest move in terms of what will be going online and, as there is potential to boost Tote pools, it must be considered a reasonably positive development.

That leads nicely onto the question of what may be happening in terms of television rights. A number of tracks have been put forward as potential candidates for a trial on RPGTV, or SIS, or wherever live video could yield a dividend, and as Youghal has been one of the tracks mentioned, recently I’ve fielded quite a few questions about what is or isn’t happening.

There seems more doubt than optimism amongst those I’ve spoken to as to whether or not it will be given the go-ahead, but I would be reasonably positive that a trial period, at the very least, will get the green light in the near future.

When I’ve asked the same question, I haven’t been given a definitive answer, but it has been suggested that the last obstacle in the way is the legislation which will allow betting shops to stay open late all year round.

Without that, the attraction of the product to the betting shop owners is extremely limited, unless, of course, BAGS meetings are considered.

Given that we don’t have a large pool of professional trainers, I don’t think the latter is a viable option at this sstage, and so accommodating a night-time schedule will have to work, if that is the path we’re going down.

I believe the betting shop legislation is at its final stages and, provided there are no hiccups or further delays, we should have a definite line on what could be happening in the coming weeks.

If live broadcasting of Irish greyhound racing gets the go-ahead, the matter turns to figuring out how we can ensure it is successful. There won’t be second chances.