2015 Irish Greyhound Derby

¾, ¾, ¾, ½, 1½ (lengths)

Laughil Blake headed the Irish Derby entries after missing the English Greyhound Derby. Farloe Blitz joined him at the top of the ante-post betting after his English Derby campaign. Only one British connection travelled to Ireland to take part. Laughil Blake was taken out coughing before the first round and was retired to stud. When the action started Ballymac Matt went fastest during both the first and second rounds (29.43 & 29.47); Farloe Blitz impressed but Slippery Fred, Laughil Duke and Riverside Pat were all eliminated. [3] The night before the tricky third round a greyhound called Tyrur Van Gaal broke the track record, stopping the clock at 29.10; van Gaal had failed to make it past the first round.

Ballymac Matt recorded a third successive fastest round win in round three, setting a time of 29.44. [4] Peregrine Falcon remained the only other greyhound unbeaten recording 29.50 and Samiya looked good with a 29.46 success. Big names Farloe Blitz, Paradise Maverick and Sidarian Vega all squeezed through to the quarter-finals after third-place finishes in their respective heats, but Oaks champion Ballydoyle Honey failed to progress.

The quarter-finals saw Farloe Blitz bounce back to his best and easily winning the first heat; Rural Hawaii & Samiya made it no further. Heat two was won by Ballymac Matt, but his win time was bettered by other heat winners for the first time in the competition. The final two heats went to Gaytime Hawk and Peregrine Falcon; the former recorded 29.34 and the latter remained unbeaten. Paradise Maverick and Sidarian Vega both disappointed and made it no further. [5]

As the semifinals got underway, it was the four quarter-final heat winners that were the favourites to claim a place in the final on 13 September. Gaytime Hawk picked up the weaker heat from Farloe Rumble and Kirby Memorial Stakes champion Cable Bay. The much stronger second heat resulted in Farloe Blitz from trap 2 defeating Ballymac Matt from 1 with Peregrine Falcon claiming third from Save the Don. [5]

In the final Farloe Blitz was hot favourite after drawing the red jacket, but on paper the final looked very competitive. As the traps opened Farloe Blitz controlled the race as he maintained a nice lead from the start, but Ballymac Matt was prominent and pulled back Farloe Blitz on the run-in despite losing ground at the third bend. Ballymac Matt deserved the win, and Farloe Rumble finished strongly to take third place. Ballymac Matt later won the 2015 Irish Greyhound of the Year.