Joe Carroll: Carrickmacross runner bids for glory in Irish Derby final

It would be entirely appropriate if Well Met were to win next Saturday night’s final of the BoyleSports Greyhound Derby, Ireland’s premier classic carrying a first prize of €125,000 and going ahead at Dublin’s Shelbourne Park.

The home-bred is owned by John Jones, one of the younger members of a Corduff, Carrickmacross family, whose involvement in the greyhound game goes back to the very start.

Back in the early 1970s, John’s grandfather, Pete, trained Jemmy John to win the Carrolls 525 International at the old Dundalk track on The Ramparts. The hugely popular lightweight fawn won other competitions, as well as breaking the national record for the standard 525 distance.

There’s been no loss of know-how in the generations that followed. Four years ago there was a chance that even the great Jemmy John’s would be eclipsed.

Our Surprise, a very fast inmate of the Jones kennel, had made it to the Derby final having raced consistently throughout the competition before dead-heating in the semi-finals. The early betting had him among the top fancies.

With expectations around these parts at its height in anticipation of a local dog bidding for the biggest prize of all, word came that Our Surprise had sustained an injury and would not be taking part in the race of the year. In his absence, the win went to Lenson’s Bocko

It was a devastating blow for owners, Brian and Laurence Jones (John’s father), who, a few years earlier, had seen their Heisman score a thrilling short-head victory in the final of another classic, the Bar One Irish Sprint Cup at Dundalk Stadium.

Now comes Well Met’s chance to more than emulate his kennel companion and compensate connections for their 2019 set-back.

Bred on the same lines as Our Surprise – being also a son of Corduff Flame – the 77-pound brindle will run from trap one, the same berth as he had last Saturday night when finishing second to surprise winner, Music Glideaway.

Prior to the semi-finals, Well Met had won twice in the preliminaries, one of his victories coming when he was placed along the rails. That augurs well, but it’s not going to be easy.

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The Jones dog’s conqueror in the semis once again goes from six, while the other Saturday night winner, The Other Kobe, bidding to give Tipperary trainer Jennifer O’Donnell a second successive Derby triumph, has the blue sheet once again.

Three of the country’s top trainers, Pat Buckley, Patrick Guilfoyle and Graham Holland, have trained a winner of the race in the past, and they are represented on Saturday.

But it’s what happens on the track that counts. If Well Met gets his usual fast start, he can take a lead around the first bend, and that’s always important.

Slippery Robert was a Derby winner for Jenkinstown’s Larry Dunne, in 2013. The odds on another local owner making in on to Shelbourne Park’s podium on the biggest night of the year are good. Best of luck to the Jones.

The race will be televised on Virgin Media 3, the hour-long programme hosted by Ivan Yates commencing at 9 o’clock.