2023 Irish Greyhound Derby

The 2023 Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby is taking place during July, August and September 2023, with the final being held on 2 September at Shelbourne Park. The competition is sponsored by BoyleSports and the prize money purse is €300,000, of which €125,000 will go to the winner.

The winner was a black dog called The Other Kobe, trained and bred by Jennifer O'Donnell and owned by Mr Brian Clare and Mr David L'Estrange. It was O'Donnell's second consecutive Irish Derby victory, having won the event in 2022 with The Other Kobe's brother Born Warrior. The Other Kobe and Born Warrior were not only the first full siblings to win the Derby but they were also from the same litter.

Details
The first round was held on 28 & 29 July, second round on 4 & 5 August, third round on 12 August, quarter finals on 19 August and semi finals on 26 August.

In the antepost betting three greyhounds headed the market at 10/1; they were Coolavanny Hoffa, Ballinabola Ed and Clona Duke. They were closely followed by Kirby Memorial champion Clonbrien Treaty, Easter Cup champion Swords Rex and Ballymac Marino at 14/1. Other big names to compete were 2023 English Greyhound Derby champion Gaytime Nemo, 2022 English Greyhound Derby champion Romeo Magico, St Leger champion Bobsleigh Dream, Champion Stakes winner Trinity Junior and the recent Dundalk International winner Raha Mofo.

Final
At Shelbourne Park (over 550 yards):

Distances
neck, 1, 3, 5, 1 (0.07 sec = one length)

Competition report
The most notable incident in round one was the elimination of Swords Rex and the second round also saw two major shocks, with the eliminations of Gaytime Nemo and Ballinabola Ed. Scaglietti was fastest in the second round with a 29.26 heat win and 2022 runner-up Ballymac Finn was a non runner.

Bobsleigh Dream started round three with a 29.29 win and this was followed by a very fast 29.12 winner in De Lahdedah. Scaglietti won in fine style again but the competition ended for Clona Duke and Romeo Magico.

In the first quarter final De Lahdedah was an easy winner (29.31) in a heat that saw Scaglietti knocked out. Bens Teddy won the next in a time of 29.39, Clonbrien Treaty and Droppys Nice One were both eliminated. The Other Kobe recorded a fast 29.15 to defeat Trinity Junior and Collavanny Hoffa but Ballymac Marino could only manage fifth. The final heat was won by Clonrook Sydney in 29.55 and also saw the elimination of Bobsleigh Dream.

Few would have predicted the remaining 12 greyhounds for the semi finals as many new names lined up attempting to reach the grand final. The trend continued as Music Glideaway, Well Met and Threesixfive finished in the first three places of the first semi final, the trio missed the trouble out of the traps that accounted for Trinity Junior. In the second semi final the shocks continued as The Other Kobe defeated Bens Teddy and Bockos Crystal, while Coolavanny Hoffa, De Lahdedah and Raha Mofo all disappointed and went out.

In the final, The Other Kobe made an impressive start out of the traps and led all the way for a deserved victory, despite a very late challenge by Bockos Crystal. Bens Teddy finished well but had given the leaders too much of a lead, which also applied to Threesixfive. Well Met found a little crowing at the third bend but was beaten at this stage anyway and Music Glideway never got into the race.