Matt O'Donnell was an Irish
greyhound trainer A greyhound trainer is a person who trains greyhounds for racing. This involves exercising, feeding, and grooming them in addition to keeping the greyhound in race condition to enable the greyhound to race to the best of its ability.
History
Befo ...
. He is a three-time winner 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 Tip ...
and one-time winner of the
English Greyhound Derby
The English Greyhound Derby is the most prestigious race on the British greyhound racing calendar, with a history stretching back to 1927.
It was first held at White City Stadium, but moved to Wimbledon Stadium in 1985, and then Towcester Gre ...
and is regarded as one of Ireland's all-time leading trainers.
Career
O'Donnell started training in 1968 and first came to prominence in the late 1970s with 'Malange', reaching the 1978
St Leger
The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...
final at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
and winning the 1978
Irish St Leger at
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
.
After twelve years of success, he finally won the Irish Derby with The Other Toss in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
. O'Donnell successfully defended the title in
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
with Ardfert Mick and joined the exclusive group of English/Irish Derby winning trainers with
Farloe Melody in 1992. In
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
he won a third Irish Derby.
He was based in
Killenaule
Killenaule () is a small town and civil parish in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Killenaule and Moyglass, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and the barony of Slievardagh. It is east of ...
,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after t ...
,
and amassed 22 Classic winners. After retiring from training he assisted his wife Frances, who took over the licence; in 2012 she won the Irish Derby.
Personal life
Before he trained greyhounds he owned a milk delivery business and a haulage firm. He married Frances Ruth (sister of another leading training Dolores Ruth), both Frances and Dolores are daughters of another trainer John Ruth who died in 1993.
[
Matt died on 4 January 2016.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Matt
Irish greyhound racing trainers
Sportspeople from County Tipperary
1933 births
2016 deaths
People from Killenaule