Kingdom Greyhound Stadium

Kingdom Greyhound Stadium is a greyhound racing track located in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. [1] It has been known as Oakview Park and the Tralee Greyhound Stadium previously.

Kingdom Greyhound Stadium

Location	Brewery Road, Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland
Coordinates	52°16'29.9"N 9°42'00.0"W
Operated by	Irish Greyhound Board
Date opened	1930
Race type	greyhound racing
Official website

Racing takes place every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evening and the facilities include a grandstand restaurant, fast food facilities, a number of bars, totalisator betting and seating. It also has a large car park around the stadium.[2]

Race distances are 500, 525, 550, 570, and 750 yards and the feature competitions at the track are the Juvenile Classic and the Race of Champions. [3]

History

A track known as the Ardfert Greyhound track in Ardfert opened in August 1929 but unfortunately closed the same year as a result of a larger track arriving in Oakview Village nearer to the Tralee town centre. The first meeting was held on 9 April 1930 at Oakview Park and the circumference was 476 yards making for a nice comfortable course for the greyhounds.[4]

The great Ballyhennessy Seal made his debut here in 1943 followed by Spanish Battleship, Ballymac Ball, Priceless Border and Patricias Hope, a quite remarkable list of greyhounds that graced the track over the years. In addition a series of competitions have been introduced over the years providing the Tralee public with regular annual events. The events were the Bloom 500, Harp Lager Stakes, Rose of Tralee, Clarke Cup, Kingdom Puppy Cup, Monalee Hiker Stakes and the MJ Hannafin Memorial Cup. The last mentioned event the MJ Hannafin Memorial Cup was named in memory of the Racing Manager at the track when it opened in 1930. His brothers to Jerry and Dennis Hannafin were two highly respected trainers in the industry. [4]

MJ Hannafin was Racing Manager until 1950 and then the hot seat was taken up by Kevin Laide for over thirty years before John Ward took over. [5]

Recent events

At the turn of the century many Irish tracks received a boost from the Irish Greyhound Board with refurbishment on the agenda. Tralee was no exception and underwent a major refit with the stadium redesigned for the new Millennium under the ownership of the Board.

Two new competitions the Juvenile Classic and Race of Champions have been introduced and they have quickly established themselves as leading feature events in the Irish racing calendar despite the fact that they have only been inaugurated in recent years.[6] The stadium underwent further upgrading in 2012 following extra investment by the Irish Greyhound Board.

Competitions

• Juvenile Classic
• Race of Champions

Track records

Current [7] [8]

Yards	Greyhound	Time	Date	Notes
325	Ballymac Sexton [9]	17.17	27.05.2016
500	Beaming Mark	26.84	15.06.2012
525	Curious Boy	28.05	06.05.2016
550	Good News	29.34	09.06.2017
570	Raparee Polly	30.62	17.02.2009
570	Toms Brett	30.62	30.06.2012
750	Zulu Ella	41.60	17.07.2009
525 hurdles	Cashen Zig	28.88	24.07.2009

Former [10]

Yards	Greyhound	Time	Date	Notes
315	Annaghs Pride	17.65	1950
315	Lemond Laddie	17.45	08.05.1958
315	Ballyard Dick	=17.45	08.05.1958
325	Upourdat	17.95	20.05.1968
325	Rosslyn Raider	17.90	08.03.1974
325	Glamour Hobo	17.86	15.08.1984
325	True Gold	17.84	1988
325	Beau Amie	17.76	1988
325	Mistreamer	17.72	Sep 1990
325	Michigan Maurice	17.52	30.08.1991
325	Pineapple Mandy	17.46	23.04.1999
325	Cashen Malouda	17.40	30.06.2012
325	Leeview Dave	17.36	18.06.2013
325	Leeview Dave	17.24	21.06.2013
325	Holborn Junior	17.23	17.05.2014
500	Sugar Prince	28.55	22.07.1958
500	Long Charlie	27.45	15.03.2002
500	Annamore Derry	27.33	24.09.2004
500	Scarty Lad	27.14	04.05.2007
500	Mossend Ronnie	27.14	12.11.2010
500	Hernandez	27.07	26.07.2011
500	Characterbuildin	26.84	15.06.2012
525	Roman Emperor	30.20	1950
525	Pouleen Boy	30.20	1950
525	Hobos Choice	30.20	1950
525	Tellus	29.12	02.09.1964
525	Up Early	29.12	29.04.1977
525	Gina Girl	29.11	1978
525	Court Rain	28.90	17.08.1984
525	Castleland Mac	28.69	26.09.1991
525	Rocking Bob	28.41	29.08.1997
525	Mountleader Rolf	28.27	29.11.2002
525	Deerfield Mover	28.14	14.09.2004
525	Deerfield Sings	28.11	01.07.2011
525	Mind the Net	28.09	13.12.2003
525	Quietly	28.08	13.06.2014
550	Another High Jack	31.10	16.05.1960
550	Footless	31.10	16.05.1960	=equalled
550	Harpist 30.76	16.07.	1976
550	Orange Prince	30.72	1979
550	Attractive Lad		1980
550	Killaclug Jet	30.52	1980
550	Realtins Best	30.40	29.04.1983
550	Ardfert Sean	30.18	02.12.1988
550	Cape Prince	29.78	28.07.1995
550	Annamore Billy	29.70	30.07.2002
550	Goldstar Premier	29.64	20.05.2005
550	Melodys Pat	29.62	06.06.2008
550	Dromore Dazzler	29.61	08.10.2010
550	Deerfield Music	29.52	17.06.2011
550	Farloe Trent	29.43	21.06.2013	Race of Champions
570	Sirius	31.34	08.04.1969
570	Wise Commander	31.14	26.09.1996
570	Three Hells Bells	30.88	17.06.2003
570	Green Heat	30.75	30.08.2008
600	Glittering Smack	33.65	1960
750	Slow Motion	42.40	29.05.1981
750	Easter Tidings	42.15	25.05.1999
750	I'm Only Sal	42.06	10.12.2004
750	Sahara Abbey	42.03	04.06.2005
750	Iflookscouldkill	41.88	08.12.2006
750	Iflookscouldkill	41.79	21.07.2007
750	Shakira Live	41.70	02.01.2009
812	Kertogue Sarah	45.90	22.07.1983
525 H	Nervy Peggy	30.68	30.06.1961
525 H	Ballyard Hurdler	29.85	18.08.1973
525 H	Keen Captain	29.32	16.09.2003
525 H	Queen Christine	29.21	04.06.2005

References

1. "Kingdom Greyhound Stadium". Kerry Tourism.
2. "Kingdom Greyhound Stadium". Irish Greyhound Board.
3. "Tralee". Greyhound Data.
4. Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
5. Barnes, Julia (1988). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. ISBN 0-948955-15-5.
6. "Irish Greyhound Board Has published the classic and feature events calendar for 2016". Irish Greyhound Board.
7. "Track records". Greyhound Star.
8. "Newbridge Track records". Greyhound Star.
9. "Kerry Coaches 325". Irish Greyhound Board.
10. "Track records". Greyhound Data.

External links

• Irish Greyhound Board