Irish Greyhound Derby 2022 Launched At Shelbourne Park By BoyleSports

on August 8, 2022 at 10:00 am

BoyleSports have launched their 2022 Irish Greyhound Derby, with this year’s expected to be one of the most exciting at Shelbourne Park.

The bookmakers renewed its sponsorship of the Irish Greyhound Derby in 2021 with a three-year €1m commitment.

The renewed deal will take BoyleSports’ sponsorship of the event to ten years, with the value of its sponsorship over this time set to exceed €3m.

The BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby is the most prestigious race on the Irish greyhound calendar and the 2022 running of the event was launched at Ireland’s premier greyhound stadium, Shelbourne Park on Monday 8th August.

Present were Dearbhla O’Brien (CEO of Greyhound Racing Ireland), Leon Blanche Director of Communications for BoyleSports), Sarah Kinsella (PR Executive for BoyleSports) and Eimhear Breen (Sponsorship manager for BoyleSports).

The early betting market with BoyleSports has Pat Buckley’s Ballinabola Ed as the 12/1 joint favourite alongside the exciting Coolavanny Hoffa for Michael J O’Donovan while his kennelmate Coolavanny Calvn is 14/1.

The 2022 Con & Annie Kirby Memorial winner Swords Rex and original ante post favourite Twoinarow are both 16/1.

The BoyleSports Champion Stakes winner, One Time Only has been trimmed into 25/1 from 33/1 after collecting the €20,000 cheque for trainer Thomas O’Donovan last weekend.

Run over 550 yards, the event attracted some big names with many viewing it as the perfect entrée to the biggest Irish Greyhound competition, the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby.

Susie Sapphire was crowned the 2021 champion for trainer Owen McKenna and owner Peter Comerford.

This now retired daughter of Droopys Jet – Jetstream Lynx broke a number of records when winning the 2021 crown by coming the first bitch to win the title since 1999 and the first bitch to complete the Oaks/Derby double.

Susie also became the first greyhound to remain unbeaten in the competition since 2009 and recorded the fastest ever winning time in 29.18. She was a remarkable winner, and we can look forward to her puppies hopefully winning big titles in the future.

Leon Blanche, Director of Communications for BoyleSports, said: “This is now our ninth year sponsoring the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby and it’s one we are relishing, especially with a full crowd returning to Shelbourne Park bringing back the unrivalled atmosphere so synonymous with this iconic race.

“We pride ourselves on our continued commitment to Irish greyhound racing and can’t wait for what is certain to be another highly competitive battle to be crowned the 2022 BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby champion.”

Dearbhla O’Brien, CEO of Greyhound Racing Ireland, added: “The BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby continues to be the highlight of the racing calendar with an impressive first place prize of €125,000 up for grabs.

“While the past two years were hosted during the strange atmosphere of Government COVID restrictions, this did not take from the worldwide interest in this prestigious event.

“The interest in this years’ event is already building and we anticipate a fantastic 6 weeks of racing.”

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