Dungannon Greyhound Stadium or Oaks Park was a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

track held on Oaks Road,

Dungannon Dungannon () is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in the ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

, BT71 4BA,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

History

Dungannon became the third Northern Irish greyhound track behind Celtic Park and

Dunmore Stadium Dunmore Stadium was a greyhound racing track located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. History Dunmore was the second greyhound stadium to be opened in Ireland, the first meeting at which was held on 6 September 1928. It closed in 2000. Opening Du ...

in July 1930. Being a greyhound track in Northern Ireland it was neither under the jurisdiction of the National Greyhound Racing Club which was the governing body for UK Tracks or 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 ...

(the Irish Greyhound Board) which is the governing body for Irish tracks, the latter did however publish the results for Northern Ireland. The track was 485 yards in circumference and racing took place every Tuesday or Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday evening and used an Outside Sumner hare system. The Ulster Oaks was introduced in 1970 establishing itself as the main event run at the track. Other competitions of note were the Mick Horan Puppy Championship (Horan was Mick the Miller's first trainer), the Tuborg Viceroy Cup and the Harry McCrory Memorial Cup (McCrory had a 30-year association with the track). In 1962 Tommy McCombe became the General and Racing Manager after Clones closed. In 1990 a fire destroyed a large part of the main stand around the same time that a letter was sent to the Bord na gCon threatening further attacks on the racecourse unless they stopped supporting coursing clubs.

Closure

The Dungannon (Oaks Park) Stadium Greyhound Racing Limited who had taken over the track in 1995 saw the opportunity to make a substantial profit by developing the site and the track closed down in 2003. It was not until 2011 that planning permission was granted for 120 mixed residential dwellings, with a

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

shopping centre to the West and Dunlea Vale directly to the North. In 2014 the derelict grandstand was subject to an arson attack and completely destroyed.

Track records

Ulster Oaks Winners

*1971 Kilwoney Rose *1972 Trace of Red *1973 Ashling Ban *1974 Rokeel Rebel *1975 Bright Evening *1976 Kisses For Me *1998 Toumpane Valley *1999 Rosalettos Girl *2000 Tullymurry Tango *2001 Shanless Park *2002 Baltic Star

References

{{Greyhound stadiums in Ireland Greyhound racing in Ireland