Crowning Derby glory for the incomparable Susie Sapphire
Trainer Owen McKenna celebrates with Susie Sapphire after winning The Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby Final
Success in Saturday night’s final of the Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby crowned one of the greatest achievements in greyhound racing for the incomparable Susie Sapphire.
The history-making youngster led all the way for a facile success over the other bitch in the final, Singalong Sally, three lengths separating the 29.18 winner and her nearest pursuer, with Jackslittlething faring best of the boys, in third.
It was a first Derby success for popular owner Peter Comerford, and a second for trainer Owen McKenna, 17 years after Like A Shot’s heroics.
The bitch is a couple of months shy of her second birthday, which makes her the second-youngest winner of the competition, and she is the first bitch this century to win the premier classic, Springtime, in 1999, being the last one.
More than that, she is the first bitch to complete the Oaks-Derby double, and the first to go unbeaten through the stake since 2009.
In a time of great depth amongst the bitches, to come from nowhere at the start of the year and to win the Puppy Oaks, Sporting Press Irish Oaks and Derby in one season is quite remarkable.
The fast-starting and tight-railing bitch may have been fortunate enough to draw the inside box in each of the three finals, but there is nothing to suggest she would not have achieved as much from any box. She has shown her peers what it is to have exceptional early pace and to use it to best effect each week. Allied to that is a tracking ability which concedes no ground, and those traits make her an exceptional lady.
Twelve months on from the desolation of Pestana picking up a career-ending injury in the Derby final, there was a swell of emotion around Shelbourne Park as McKenna danced up the straight, his bitch in hand. Seldom do we see such emotion from the trainer, but he understood what he and Susie Sapphire had just achieved.
“This is everything,” said McKenna. “I won’t come down to earth for a week. She’s some little lady, she’s dynamite. She has gone from strength to strength, and everything that’s been asked of her, she has done.
“I didn’t see the break but once she went around the bend, it was going to take a hell of a something to pass her. She’s a Derby champion, an Oaks champion, a Puppy Oaks champion – probably a chance of getting Dog Of The Year now.”
Reflecting on his previous win in the race, McKenna added: “You don’t appreciate things when you are younger, you think it’s handy. But it’s taken a long time (to win a second), we’ve hit the crossbar several times since. It’s hard to surpass what she has done for us. It’s easy for us to look good when you have something on the end of a lead as good as her. She’s just amazing. I can’t say enough about her.”
McKenna’s wife, Sian, was equally ebullient. “We’re so, so proud of her,” she said. “She has been an unreal bitch for us this year. From the Puppy Oaks, we put her into the Oaks, and took a chance with her. She went through that, won that, and then we stuck her in this thinking we’ll just give her a go, and every round she went from strength to strength.
“She’s just unreal, just amazing. It’s crazy what she has achieved, for such a young bitch, and we’re just over the moon.
“Owen eats it, he sleeps it, he puts the greyhounds first. That’s just him. I’m so happy for him, and so proud of him. We’ll go home with happy tears tonight because last year we were on such a high going into the final, and then disaster struck.
“At the beginning of the year we didn’t think we had anything to run in the Derby this year, and we said we’d give her a go, and now we’re here.”
The bitches didn’t only dominate the Derby final, for there were some terrific performances from the ladies on the undercard. Skywalker Cilla, trained by Mark O’Donovan, won the Derby Consolation in a time just one spot slower than the Derby, and the brilliant Billys Diva dominated the Open Bitch 525 with a 28.24 run. Ballyhimikin Pip, touched off in the Munster Oaks final last weekend, went one place better when proving a popular winner of the opening race.
One of the highlights on the undercard was the 27.94 posted by Rural Star in the Download The BoyleSports App 525. Graham Holland’s runner led narrowly at the bend and was pushed hard all the way by Coom Leo, but he ran on strongly to post that brilliant time.
Holland also took the Michael Fortune Memorial Derby Plate final with Kameko, who led early and battled on bravely to fend off the strong challenge of kennel-companion Sweep The Yard.
