“My heart is still in my mouth, is this real? Is this actually happening?”

These were the first words uttered by 21-year-old Mark O’Donovan from Tipperary Town, having just trained Stonepark Leo to victory in the richest juvenile greyhound race on the planet, the €150,000 Con and Annie Kirby Memorial Classic last weekend.

The passionate young trainer, whose father Michael achieved Irish Greyhound Derby success in 2000 and 2014 became the youngest trainer to win a classic and it was no fluke – just 96 hours earlier, he landed the prestigious Select Stakes in Waterford with Skywalker Barry.

On top of that, the winning owner, Michael O’Dwyer, a fifth-year secondary-school student from Ballyneety, is O’Donovan’s junior by four years.

With a combined age of 38, the €80,000 victory of Mark and Michael certainly rubbishes any notions about greyhound racing being an old man’s sport!

The annual Con and Annie Kirby Memorial Classic is sponsored by JP and Noreen McManus in honour of Noreen’s parents, the late Con and Annie Kirby, who were greyhound racing lovers who frequented the old Markets Field stadium, the home of greyhound racing in Limerick for many years. This was also the venue where JP McManus began his bookmaking career.

Another fascinating element to the Con and Annie Kirby Memorial is the additional €20,000 prize fund, also sponsored by the McManus family, which is distributed to local GAA clubs as part of the competition. At the beginning of the ‘Kirby’ each year, a draw is made which affiliates each of the greyhounds with a GAA club in Limerick. Apart from running for the prize money on offer for connections, each greyhound effectively runs for their nominated GAA club also.

Castletown/Ballyagran were the winners, taking home €10,000 from their association with Stonepark Leo.

De Machine, trained in Newry by the Matthews family, who won the ‘Kirby’ in 2014 and 2015, came second, winning €5,000 for Hospital/Herbertstown GAA, while also claiming €18,500 for the Matthews.

Agent Stanley delivered a magnificent performance to take third place, winning €2,000 for Askeaton/Ballysteen LGFA and €9,000 for connections, making the numerous trips down from Dublin worthwhile for the ever-charismatic Des ‘Skippy’ Gilbert.

Almost €1.5m in prize money has been paid out since the inception of the Con and Annie Kirby Memorial Classic, while over €160,000 has been distributed to winning GAA clubs.

The race itself was a fascinating one, with 7/2 shot Stonepark Leo getting a clear passage up the outside from his wide trap six draw. Agent Stanley – a 7/1 chance – produced astounding early pace from trap one and led to the opening turn, but Stonepark Leo advanced to the front up the back straight and powered clear.

The 9/2 third favourite De Machine demonstrated devastating speed to come within a length and a half of the winner in second, with Agent Stanley finishing a further half-length back in third.

The 5/4 favourite Explosive Boy encountered traffic at the opening bend along with Singalong Sally and Ballymac Merlin and this dented their chances of finishing in the frame.

It was a classy performance by Stonepark Leo, and he, along with the rest of this year’s finalists can look forward to a very bright future! CL