The 1968 Irish Greyhound Derby took place during July and August with the final being held at

Shelbourne Park Shelbourne Park is a greyhound racing stadium in the south Dublin inner city suburb of Ringsend. Greyhound Racing Opening The plans to open a greyhound track in Dublin were drawn up by Paddy O’Donoghue, Jerry Collins, Patsy McAlinden and Jim ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on 10 August 1968. In January 1968 Shelbourne Park came under the ownership of the

Bord na gCon Greyhound Racing Ireland ( ga, Rásaíocht Con Éireann, formerly ga, Bord na gCon) is an Irish semi-state body charged with regulating and promoting Greyhound racing in Ireland. The organisation has been active in developing the sport in Irela ...

for £240,000, which resulted in Shelbourne becoming the permanent home of the

Irish Greyhound Derby The Irish Greyhound Derby held at Shelbourne Park, is the premier greyhound racing competition in Ireland. First held at Harold's Cross in 1928, the event was unofficial until 1932 and called the National Derby. The first winner in 1928 was T ...

from 1970. The winner

Yellow Printer Yellow Printer was a famous racing greyhound during the late 1960s. He is regarded as being the one of the fastest racing greyhounds in history and won Ireland's ultimate prize, the Irish Greyhound Derby, in addition to being voted the 1968 UK G ...

won £2,000 and was trained by John Bassett, owned by Miss Pauline Wallis and Sir Robert Adeane.

Final result

At Shelbourne, 10 August (over 525 yards):

Distances

1½, 4½ (lengths)

Competition Report

The leading entry for the 1968 Derby was Yellow Printer, who was regarded as being the fastest greyhound in training for many years. He had reached the

Easter Cup The Easter Cup is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 3 Thoroughbred open handicap horse race, over a distance of 2000 metres, held at Caulfield Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia. Total prize money for the race is A$200,000. The race is traditionally ...

final beaten by It's A Mint before taking part in an eventful 1968 English Greyhound Derby. He was jointly owned by Pauline Wallis and Sir Robert Adeane and arrived in Ireland with trainer John Bassett and was housed at

Gay McKenna Gay McKenna was an Irish greyhound trainer who won the Irish Greyhound Derby five times. He was considered the leading trainer in Ireland from 1960 until 1972. Early life McKenna was born in Birr, County Offaly. He operated his kennels at C ...

's Kennels in

Cabinteely Cabinteely () is a suburb of Dublin's southside. It is in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland. Geography Cabinteely lies around the crossroads of Johnstown Road / Brennanstown Road and the Old Bray Road, and on either side of the ...

. He was installed at an incredibly short ante-post price 5-2. He ran a solo trial recording a fast 29.40 just one day before the heats, and his odds were shortened further to an unprecedented even money favourite, extraordinary odds for a competition. On 20 July Yellow Printer became the first greyhound to break 29 seconds over 525 yards at Shelbourne Park, when he won by nine lengths and clocked 28.83sec in a first round victory. Defending champion Russian Gun also won in an impressive 29.22 and Philotimo, the McAlinden Cup and

Laurels ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, Glossary of botanical terms#glabrous, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as ...

champion posted 29.32. Other winners included It's A Mint, Mister Rubble and Puppy Derby champion Kalamazoo. The second round proved eventful because It's A Mint went fastest in 29.29 but Yellow Printer and Russian Gun both remained unbeaten after the round. Yellow Printer remained unbeaten as he wrapped up his semi-final in 29.43 from Ballybeg Flash; It's A Mint defeated Drumna Chestnut in the second decider and the remaining semi provided the punters with a superb fight back from Russian Gun when the black dog had looked in a hopeless position; he then came from nowhere to qualify behind Clinker Flash. In the final Ballybeg Flash broke first out of the traps, but it was Yellow Printer from trap four who took the lead followed by Russian Gun, who stayed with him the whole way round and only conceded the race late on.

References

{{Irish Greyhound Derby Greyhound Derby

Final result

Distances

Competition Report

See also

References