Spanish Battleship’s Irish Derby hat track unlikely to be repeated

John Barry with the story of Spanish Battleship, the Kerry greyhound that won the Irish Derby three years in a row in the 1950s

KERRY greyhounds have commanded the national spotlight with quite remarkable regularity over the years and, having put the spotlight on coursing superstar Master Myles last week, it is entirely appropriate that we should have a follow-up this week on the greatest track greyhound ever to come out of the county, namely the incomparable Spanish Battleship.

Three Irish Greyhound Derby victories in a row from 1953 to 1955, two of them at Harold’s Cross Stadium and the third at Shelbourne Park, set this fellow apart from every other champion tracker. So do all his other amazing feats, such as the track records he established and the huge amount of important trophies he won right across the country, including two Easter Cups, two McCalmont Cups, the Irish Laurels, the Tipperary Cup and Corn An Tóstal.

In achieving one of his McCalmont Cup victories, at Kilkenny Track, so big was the crowd that came to see him on the night of the final that 1,000 had to be moved to the grass area in the centre of the track to get a proper view of him. That’s simply unthinkable today.

His owner was, of course, Timothy “Chub” O’Connor, who was a very prominent business man in Killorglin and who was a Fianna Fáil member of Dáil Éireann from 1961 to 1981, as well as serving on the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“Chub” O’Connor was actually born in London in 1906, but following the death of his father the family moved to Meanus, Killorglin, and he was reared there by his mother. In his late teens, due to unemployment in Ireland, he went back to London, but a return to Ireland duly took place and he worked in various capacities before setting up his own business in Killorglin, which was to greatly thrive over the years.

He Married Mary Frances McCarthy, of Killarney, and they had two sons and six daughters.

A strong interest in greyhounds led him to leasing a bitch called Ballyseedy Memory from breeder Tadhg Drummond and he mated her with Spanish Chestnut, a half brother to 1949 Irish Derby champion, Spanish Lad.

A litter of seven resulted and they were reared by Sheila O’Connor, a sister to “Chub.” A place called Eastville in Bristol, England, was actually the planned destination for Spanish Battleship, but he was bitten by a pig of all things and stayed in Ireland because of that.

His racing career duly began and he was entered in the Irish St Leger at Limerick. He won his first-round heat and, although eliminated in the second round, “Chub” O’Connor felt that he had serious potential and he contacted a Cahersiveen man who was training greyhounds in Dublin, namely Tom Lynch, who agreed to prepare Spanish Battleship for the Irish Derby.

That was 1953 and Tom Lynch, who was viewed as a genius with the longtails and who received a greyhound Hall of Fame award in Dublin’s Berkeley Hotel in 1991, along with Dick Ryan (the inaugural year of the awards), immediately struck gold with Spanish Battleship by taking him all the way to the Derby final and then winning it from Smokey Glen in a time of 29.78.

Spanish Battleship also won every heat in three other events that year, the Irish Laurels, the McCalmont Cup and the McAlinden Cup, but he didn’t win any of the finals.

Into 1954, he won Corn An Tóstal Cup at Harold’s Cross and the Easter Cup at Shelbourne Park before injury curtailed his progress in the Callanan Cup and put a question mark over his defence of the Irish Derby.

However, Tom Lynch sorted the problem out, so brilliantly, in fact, that Spanish Battleship smashed the track record at Shelbourne Park on his way to a three-length victory in the Derby final over Dignity in 28.64.

That year, Spanish Battleship also won the Tipperary Cup at Thurles, twice breaking the track record, and he also won the McCalmont Cup.

On to 1955 and his bid for immortality by winning the Irish Derby for the third year running at Harold’s Cross. The omens were good when he again won the Easter Cup at Shelbourne Park and, although he didn’t successfully defend the McCalmont Cup, he was the one commanding all the attention when the Derby got underway.

Now four years old, he was caught before the line in the first round and was beaten by Crostys Bell, but he duly made his way to the final and he was, in fact, the 5/4 favourite to win it. A flying start saw him take firm control and he hit the line three lengths ahead of his first-round conqueror, Crostys Bell, in 29.53.

One can only imagine the joyous scenes that followed the victory and it didn’t end there. Spanish Battleship broke the track record at Cork on his way to winning the Irish Laurels and he also scored a repeat victory in the McCalmont Cup.

He also participated in a number of exhibition races, and in December of 1955 he was involved in a match race at White City in London with Duet Leader and Hi There, which he didn’t win.

But his record of 80 wins from 90 career stands as absolute testimony to his brilliance and, in the world of greyhound racing, his name will be forever famous.

Will we ever again see the Irish Derby won in three consecutive years by the same greyhound? Very, very unlikely.

The name Spanish Battleship, by the way, came about in an odd kind of way. “Chub” O’Connor had sent a number of other names to the regularity body, the Irish Coursing Club, but they were all rejected. On the ’phone one day at his business in Killorglin, he spotted a box containing Spanish marmalade... and hence the Spanish prefix.

“Chub” O’Connor died in 1986 and his funeral to Dromavalla Cemetery was one of the largest ever seen in Mid Kerry. The oration at the graveside was given by the then leader of Fianna Fáil, Charles Haughey.

In relation to trainer Tom Lynch, he went to Dublin from Cahersiveen in 1932 and started work as the traps operator at Harold’s Cross. Within a year he had joined leading trainer Joe McKenna, and he actually married Joe’s sister, Peggy.

Two of Peggy’s brothers, Gay and Tom McKenna, were trainers who, between them, won eight Irish Derbies.

Quite amazing pedigree there, and how fitting in this story of canine greatness that a Cahersiveen man should team up with a Killorglin man to give such strong Kerry flavour to the most famous track story of them all.

PS: The legendary coursing greyhound, Master McGrath, won three Waterloo Cups - in 1868, 1869 and 1871.