Inside Track: Dundalk Stadium plays host to some speedy longtails

Some very fast greyhounds have been rounding the bends and covering the straights at Dundalk Stadium of late. Many of them have already enjoyed a high profile – another might soon be among them.

Rolo Tokyo had only three races before taking his place in the Éamon & Paddy Carroll Memorial Stake, and though the London-owned blue-brindle had won none of them, his times in filling minor places were above average.

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They were sprints; for the Carroll, Rolo would be moving up to the 525. As it transpired, the extra yardage had no risk attached. After winning his first round heat, the 27-month-old proceeded to rout his opponents, getting to within a length of the track record in the semi-final.

Trained in Downpatrick by Damien Maginn, Rolo went even faster in the final, once again giving the record a right shaking. His aggregate winning margin in his four races was upwards on 26 lengths.

The opposition will be stiffer from now on, and it will be interesting to see how the 79-pounder handles it. Shelbourne Park could be his next port of call.

This year’s Dundalk International had a reminder of the 1983 renewal of the big race. Back then, five of the runners cross the line together, and it was only after a long delay, the Judge giving the photo a hard look, that Quick Suzy was declared the winner, a short-head clear of Dad’s Bank, running for Peter Burke’s Clogherherad kennel.

Under a length covered three of the other finishers, with a dog by the name of Game Ball failing to get his photo taken.

It was nearly as close last Saturday night, and this time all six runners were in the picture, about two lengths covering the entire field.

Victory went to the favourite, Cheap Sandwiches, with the English raider, Wicky Ned, taking the runner-up spot. There was a half-length between them, with Ballinaboola Joe finishing in third, a short-head back.

The Kerry-owned winner – It surely was the Kingdom’s weekend – ran-up last year’s Irish Derby and was a finalist in this year’s English equivalent, while Wicky Ned was England’s greyhound of-the-year in 2024, and going into this race had a smashing record of 13 wins from fourteen outings.

For a time it looked as if the raider was going to enhance his record. He was fast away from one, and led around the first bend. After that the field began to bunch, but turning in Wicky Ned was still in the vanguard.

Cheap Sandwiches got a run on the wide outside in the home straight, and it was close to the line that the Graham Holland-trained hit the front. The highly-fancied Callaway Knegare never really recovered from a very tardy start.

The probability is that many of the runners will contest the upcoming Irish Derby, and there could be one or two of them in the line-up for Dundalk’s next major event, the Irish Sprint.