First mating for Newhall Missile

Having captured the hearts of an entire greyhound racing community, along with attracting the attentions of the wider public in a wonderful 2018 Boylesports Irish Derby campaign which brought a stunning victory in the Derby Consolation, Colin Barry & Noel Coote's Newhall Missile (Romeo Recruit/Rathmeehan Holly) is set to be a daddy, having mated his first bitch on Wednesday of this week.

Set to resume his racing career in the very near future, he returned to Shelbourne Park when sparkling in an 18.67 trial over 350 yards in early February but took time out this week for a natural mating with Sues Music at the kennels of George Gallery.

Owned by Johnny & Grainne Burke, Sues Music had her racing career cut short with just a sole start but she was a member of a talented Open class litter which included Tynwald Galaxy (data rating 111), Log Cabin (127) and Mick The Master (109).

By Tyrur Big Mike, her dam Keplar Miss also threw Open class runners in her two other litters to Droopys Scolari & Droopys Maldini.

Fresh for her breeding career, she is certainly an exciting first mating for Newhall Missile, whose own prolific dam-line traces back to the 1984 Oaks winner Burnpark Sally and through Irish St Leger 3rd Burnpark Lisa, from the family kennels of trainer John Browne.

Surely the most heart-warming story of recent times in greyhound racing, the Newhall Missile script is clearly not yet completed and there is in fact a further instalment yet to be revealed as last year's Derby campaign inspired a hugely generous act from a previous stranger to connections. Watch this space!

Penned ahead of his quarter-final in the 2018 Derby, the Newhall Missile story to that point can be found here: https://www.igb.ie/OwnerShip/other-syndicate-stories/missile-takes-aim-at-derby-semi-final-for-colin-and-crew/

The 2019 Con and Annie Kirby Memorial 525 Yards Stake

For 72 greyhounds whelped on or after 1st January 2017 made up of:

Entries @ €200 each.

Trial Stakes to be run at Irish Stadiums nationwide. Limerick to run additional Trial Stakes.

Preliminary Rounds: Saturday 23rdMarch

2nd Round Heats: Saturday 30th March

Quarter-Finals: Saturday 6th April

Semi-Finals: Saturday 13th April

Final: Saturday 20th April

PRIZEMONEY

Winner €80,000, Second €20,000, Third €10,000

3 Unplaced Finalists €5,000 each

6 Unplaced Semi-Finalists €1,000 each

12 unplaced Quarter-Finalists €400 each

24 Unplaced in 2nd Round €200 each

24 Unplaced 1st Round €100 each

Heat Winners @ €150 each

Sean O Connor Cup for those greyhounds eliminated in the 1st & 2nd round with priority to those greyhounds eliminated in 2nd round.

This event is open to UK entries.

**ENTRIES CLOSE MONDAY 18TH MARCH @ 12 NOON.

Con & Annie Kirby Memorial Trial Stake

6 @ €20 each who are A0 grade whelped Jan 17 or later.

Winner €400 & Trophy plus free entry to Kirby in March.

Race to be run Sat Mar 2nd.

Entry closes Tue Feb 26th @ 12 noon.

Con & Annie Kirby Memorial Trial Stake

6 @ €20 each who are A1 grade whelped Jan 17 or later.

Winner €400 & Trophy plus free entry to Kirby in March.

Race to be run Sat Mar 2nd

**Entry closes Tue Feb 26th @ 12 noon.

Going Gold & Green for Kirby 2019

Regular readers will notice the tweak in colour scheme and will immediately guess that we are already preparing for the commencement of the 2019 Con & Annie Kirby Memorial on Saturday March 24th.

The first round will again house 72 aspiring champions along with 72 Limerick GAA clubs who will each have a representative greyhound to compete for a share of €20,000 on their behalf as part of the wonderful sponsorship package from JP & Noreen McManus, which will again see a total of €160,000 on offer in the main event.

Leading up to the event, and indeed following commencement, https://grgracing.blogspot.com/ will be your one-stop site for all the news, previews, tips, track-side reports, gossip and anything "Kirby" related, as we have been since first covering the event.

With our content for last year's Kirby appearing elsewhere on the inter-web ;) , in 2019 we return to what has been the most comprehensive coverage that the "Kirby" has ever received. All content this year will remain here on the main site but readers can expect to find all the same plethora of news that we have delivered in the past from such sources as our 2017 micro-site http://grgkirby.blogspot.com/ .

The most influential event on future form in the entire sport......it's almost "Kirby" time!

Remember this screen-capture as the 2014 champ was greeted at the pick-up?! #Rambo

Con & Annie Kirby Memorial Stake to give 24 more clubs the chance to win €10,000 prize

24 more Limerick clubs are to be given a chance to win €10,000 in the 2019 Con & Annie Kirby Memorial Stake at Limerick Greyhound Stadium.

The past six years of the competition have seen Limerick GAA clubs share in the event fund, with each of the 72 greyhounds in the event assigned to a GAA club. The winning greyhound’s assigned GAA club win a nominator prize of €10,000 and a free benefit night at Limerick Greyhound Stadium.

The Pat-Buckley trained Droopys Davy won last year’s event, with Cappagh GAA taking home the spoils.

Now, every ladies football, camogie and handball club in Limerick are being invited to submit their applications to be assigned a dog for the Con & Annie Kirby Trial Stakes which begin this Saturday, February 16th in Limerick.

The first 24 applicants will be each assigned a dog in one of the four heats to be run this Saturday. Two of these dogs will progress to the Kirby Memorial First Round, which will begin on Saturday, March 23rd.

CEO of the Irish Greyhound Board, Gerard Dollard, commented: “The Con & Annie Kirby is a wonderful highlight of the Irish greyhound racing calendar. The generous support of Noreen & JP McManus cannot be underestimated. The juvenile race acts as a stepping stone for Ireland’s rising greyhound stars and creates a strong market for young dogs, as well as continuing the strong greyhound racing tradition that has existed here in Limerick for many decades. The Kirby Memorial Stake creates a county full of winners – and Limerick has been used to winning plenty recently!”

Sponsored by Noreen and JP McManus in honour of her parents, Con & Annie Kirby, the competition has the biggest prize fund in Ireland after the Irish Greyhound Derby, with a total fund of €160,000.

The Kirby Memorial Stake will run for five consecutive Saturdays at Limerick Greyhound Stadium from Saturday, March 23rd, with the final taking place on Easter Saturday, April 20th.

The trap draw for the Kirby Trial Stakes will take place this Thursday, February 14th.