Paul Hennessy is 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 ...

and

thoroughbred horse The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distan ...

trainer. He is a two-time winner of the

English Greyhound Derby The English Greyhound Derby is the most prestigious race on the British Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing calendar, with a history stretching back to 1927. It was first held at White City Stadium, but moved to Wimbledon ...

and a 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 T ...

and three times winner of the

Scottish Greyhound Derby The Scottish Greyhound Derby was an original classic greyhound competition held at Shawfield Stadium. Held at Carntyne Stadium from 1928 to 1968, after the closure of Carntyne the race appeared at Shawfield from 1970 until 1985. In 1988 the Gre ...

and is regarded as one of Ireland's leading trainers.

Greyhound racing

Based in Garryduff,

Gowran Gowran (; ) is a town located on the eastern side of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The historic St. Mary's Collegiate Church is located in the centre of Gowran close to Gowran Castle. Gowran Park race course and Golf Course is located one km from t ...

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

he first gained success in the 1986

Tipperary Cup The Tipperary Cup is a greyhound racing competition held annually at Thurles Greyhound Stadium, Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North A ...

. In 1999 he reached the final of the 1999 Irish Greyhound Derby for the first time with Mr Bozz. He trained a greyhound called the Late Late Show (named after Irish talk show), and owned by TV and Radio chat show host

Pat Kenny Patrick Kenny (born 29 January 1948) is an Irish broadcaster, who currently hosts the daily radio show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' on Newstalk and the current affairs show ''Pat Kenny Tonight'' on Virgin Media One. Prior to this, Kenny had a 41-yea ...

. The greyhound captured the imagination of the Irish public with his performances and reached the 2001 Irish Greyhound Derby final. A long-awaited Irish Derby success arrived in 2007 when Tyrur Rhino won the 2007 Irish Greyhound Derby from kennelmate Turur Laurel. Hennessy remains one of Ireland's leading trainers and won the 2016 English Greyhound Derby with Jaytee Jet to complete the trio of national Derby race wins. He added a second English Derby when Priceless Blake won the 2019 English Greyhound Derby.

Horse racing

Hennessy is also a horse trainer, training a small number of racehorses that compete in

National Hunt racing In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...

. He gained his biggest success to date when Heaven Help Us won the

Coral Cup The Coral Cup is a Grade 3 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 2 miles and 5 f ...

at the 2021

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Rac ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hennessy, Paul Irish greyhound racing trainers Sportspeople from County Kilkenny The Late Late Show (Irish talk show) Irish racehorse trainers People from Gowran