Kingdom Greyhound Stadium is 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 located in

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County ...

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It has been known as Oakview Park and the Tralee Greyhound Stadium previously. Racing takes place every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evening and the facilities include a grandstand restaurant, fast food facilities, a number of bars, totalisator betting and seating. It also has a large car park around the stadium. Race distances are 500, 525, 550, 570, and 750 yards and the feature competitions at the track are the

Juvenile Classic The Juvenile Classic is a greyhound racing competition held annually at the Kingdom Greyhound Stadium in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. It was inaugurated in 2007 and therefore is a relatively new event but due to the significant winners pr ...

and the

Race of Champions The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the end/start of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Ral ...

History

A track known as the Ardfert Greyhound track in

Ardfert Ardfert () is a village in County Kerry, Ireland. Historically a religious centre, the economy of the locality is driven by agriculture and its position as a dormitory town, being only from Tralee. The population of the village was 749 at the 2 ...

opened in August 1929 but unfortunately closed the same year as a result of a larger track arriving in Oakview Village nearer to the Tralee town centre. The first meeting was held on 9 April 1930 at Oakview Park and the circumference was 476 yards making for a nice comfortable course for the greyhounds. The great Ballyhennessy Seal made his debut here in 1943 followed by Spanish Battleship, Ballymac Ball, Priceless Border and Patricias Hope, a quite remarkable list of greyhounds that graced the track over the years. In addition a series of competitions have been introduced over the years providing the Tralee public with regular annual events. The events were the Bloom 500, Harp Lager Stakes, Rose of Tralee, Clarke Cup, Kingdom Puppy Cup, Monalee Hiker Stakes and the MJ Hannafin Memorial Cup. The last mentioned event the MJ Hannafin Memorial Cup was named in memory of the Racing Manager at the track when it opened in 1930. His brothers to Jerry and Dennis Hannafin were two highly respected trainers in the industry. MJ Hannafin was Racing Manager until 1950 and then the hot seat was taken up by Kevin Laide for over thirty years before John Ward took over.

Recent events

At the turn of the century many Irish tracks received a boost from

Greyhound Racing Ireland 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 ...

with refurbishment on the agenda. Tralee was no exception and underwent a major refit with the stadium redesigned for the new Millennium under the ownership of the Board. Two new competitions the Juvenile Classic and Race of Champions have been introduced and they have quickly established themselves as leading feature events in the Irish racing calendar despite the fact that they have only been inaugurated in recent years. The stadium underwent further upgrading in 2012 following extra investment by Greyhound Racing Ireland.

Competitions

Track records

Current track records

Former track records

References

{{coord missing, County Kerry Greyhound racing venues in the Republic of Ireland Sport in County Kerry Sports venues in County Kerry Sport in Tralee