Great weekend of coursing at Templetuohy

Last weekend saw a tremendous few days of outstanding greyhound sport in the village of Templetuohy with a really fine crowd in attendance for the local club’s annual Coursing meeting.

It is widely accepted for a long number of years in the Coursing community that the Templetuohy Club run a really fantastic fixture, probably one of the pre-eminent meetings of the calendar and the 2023 meeting just past was no exception.

It is often attested by coursing people that for a top-quality meeting the Number 1 requirement is to have a really healthy, strong running and powerful batch of well minded hares and this was certainly true of Templetuohy this year. There was some exceptional coursing behind those brilliant hares and the large crowds in attendance really seemed to enjoy their visit to the well-appointed Tipperary venue over the three days.

Above:Derby Trial Stake - Theo Lloyd presents the Ryan Cup for the Derby Trial Stake to winning owner and trainer David McGrath. Picture: Yvonne Harrington.

The promoting Club have put some tremendous facilities in place for spectators and with a viewing stand, a clean and warm tea-room, plenty of hard core parking the traditional winter experience of coursing in rain gear and wellies has been mitigated most comfortably.

Feature Event
The feature event on the card was the 51st running of the prestigious Premier Cup for 32 All-Aged greyhounds. This is one of the most valuable Cups on the circuit carrying a €4,000 to the winner purse and 21 highly sought after Champion Stakes qualification points in total also divided out between the last 4 survivors.

The last 4 left in with chances on Sunday afternoon were Hermes, Suchgoodluck, Kyle Honour, who had been our ante-post favourite, and the bitch Marbella. In the first semi final Hermes, who had been running really impressively all through the Stake for his owner and trainer, Limerick based Kerry man Owen Flynn, proved to be a length and a half too good for Suchgoodluck into the first of two turns behind a lively hare in a time od 10,89.

In the second semi-final it was even closer with Kyle Honour just hanging on to hold off the challenge of the fast finishing Marbella by a fading half length. This winner owned and trained in Patrickswell by the Field family stopped broadcaster Sean Doherty’s ray timing clock at 10.94. Before the final it was 4/6 each of the two and opinion was divided around the ground as to which od the pair might get over the line. Hermes had been very well thought of as a pup and had changed hands for decent money last year after an impressive Trial Stake victory at Borris In Ossory. Injury had seen him off form for quite some time this season though and he’d arrived in Templetuohy with what could only be termed an outsider’s chance.

Kyle Honour on the other hand had been withdrawn injured from the final at Castleisland earlier this season before going onto win at Lixnaw and had been chalked up as our 5/2 favourite before the Stake commenced on Saturday morning.

Pictured above: Oaks Trial Stake - Long serving Templetuohy CC Secretary Patsy Kiely was delighted to present his old friend Paddy O'Donovan of Clonaslee with the Kelly Cup following the victory of Donegal Liz 

Final was Nip and tuck
In the event the final between the pair was nip tuck in the early stages but Hermes really asserted himself from halfway and pulled out to take the decisive score by about 2 and a half lengths. The 9 Champion Stakes points and €4,000 garnered by Hermes will have shot him right up the rankings and connections will be watching anxiously the results over the coming weekend to see if they can hang onto a coveted spot in that top 8 All Aged runners.

Should he not make it to Clonmel connections will certainly be looking forward to a tilt at the Irish Cup at the end of the season. One thing is for sure that as a result of his Templetuohy efforts Kyle Honour will make the Champion Stakes as the 6 points collected here will put him in an unassailable position near the top of the leader board.

All-aged Bitch stake
The other big All Aged feature of the meeting was the All-Aged Bitch Stake and Hennessy Cup for 16 and there was a really decent winner of this event in the shape of Arena Rose. This lady is owned by Edenderry Coursing Club members Naomhan Farrell and Oisin O’Grady and was previously a winner at her home meeting and in All Aged company at Freshford.

She is trained in Co Meath by well-respected handler Davy Reynolds and she really delivered some very eye catching performances here to overcome a very high-class field in extremely convincing style. Her final opponent was Jeffys Hope and this bitch ran really well to make the final for her owner and trainer Woodsgift based publican and long time Templetuohy CC supporter Liam Comerford. In the final, Arena Rose, off the red collar proved to be 2 lengths too fast at the top of the field.

Above: Longorchard Stake -Rody Gleeson presented the Cup commemorating his late brother Jim to the delighted connections of the Longorchard Stake winner As I Was

Oaks Trial Winner
There was a popular winner of the Oaks Trial Stake when the genial Paddy O’Donovan took the spoils with his well above average bitch Donegal Liz. She proved 5 lengths too good for the local hope, Inch Heidi which Templetuohy based trainer Brendan Everard trains for promoting club members the Egan Family Syndicate from Inch. The runner up had shipped a couple of heavy falls and probably was on the wrong side of the handicap over the early rounds on Sunday but take nothing from the victor she was an impressive and well merited winner carrying the favourites tag from the very start of coursing.

Biggest upset
Perhaps one of the biggest upsets in Templetuohy coursing history took place in the final of the Derby Trial Stake when the incredibly impressive and blindingly fast looking Drive On Leslie was turned over by Badminton Karntn.
Drive on Leslie had changed hands early in the season for massive money and had been purchased by the legendary UK based professional gambler Harry Findlay and he arrived in Templetuohy with a huge reputation. Trained in Skibbereen by Denis O’Driscoll the performances of Drive on Leslie in Templetuohy had done nothing but enhance that reputation

. He had clocked 10.66, 10.62 and 10.70 in his first 3 rounds and that kind of running would make him a match for any dog in the country and very short in the Derby betting once qualification was assured.

And certainly, approaching the final the opinion right around the meeting was that Drive on Leslie would deliver the goods and secure his coveted Derby qualification ticket by defeating Badminton Karntn. Badminton looked a really strong and top-class runner but just not in the league of Drive On and from the drop in slips looked to be giving second best. However, there is always a variable in coursing and in this instance, it was the hare. Just after the pair had been released by Slipper Alan Kelly, the hare moved off the path and broke for the infield, the red collar Badminton dog moved over to his hare whilst the white dog Drive On Leslie sailed up the field completely unsighted.

Badminton Karntn ended up turning his quarry well down the field and coursed him home alone with the misfortunate Drive On Leslie collected by hapless connections at the top of the field.

Working Members Stake - Nora Egan was delighted to accept the Everard Perpetual Cup from Conor Everard following the victory of Inch Hailey in the Working Members Stake at Templetuohy Coursing

It was a most unlucky turn of events and very disappointing for all involved not least the promoting club as an exceptional weekends sport was marred by what was clearly a very unlikely result. However, the sport is called coursing and the lure is a wild animal and the vagaries of it are such that it’s the dog who courses the best that sometimes takes the spoils and defeats a possibly faster competitor.

The connections of the winner, David McGrath and Michael Fitzgerald of Balbriggan in Co Dublin, were understandably delighted with their win and they are supporters who put a lot into the game and will no doubt represent the Templetuohy Club with aplomb at the National Meeting in early February.

Loudest cheer
Perhaps the loudest cheer of the day was reserved for the victory of As I Was in the Longorchard Stake and Gleeson Cup for 16 2 course Duffers, this was ran all the way through on Sunday and the winner, trained by Pat Norris in Mitchelstown proved to be 4 lengths too good for a gallant runner-up the bitch Aviatrix in the final. The Egan family of Inch gained some consolation for the defeat in the Oaks Trial Stake final when their Inch Hailey also trained by Brendan Everard was the victor in the final of the Everard Cup for Working Members. In the final she proved 4 lengths too fast for Lisdaleen Suckle which is owned and trained by Club stalwarts Ger Everard and Jack Wilson.

And so concluded a fantastic weekend in ‘Tuohy, it takes a huge amount of effort by an awful lot of people to pull off a successful event of the magnitude of what the local club has consistently achieved on an annual basis for a very long number of years.

From great crowds out hunting over the preceding weeks back to early November, to the preparation of the field, to the caring for and training the hare stock, to the catering over the weekend, administering the Club Lotto and many many more tasks it takes a huge community and voluntary effort to make all of the moving parts pull together in sync.
Huge credit must go to the officers and committee who can take abow as the curtain goes down on another successful years coursing in Templetuohy and surrounds.