Astute Missile takes top prize
A TINAHELY dog breeder is celebrating this week after a pup that he bred won the biggest greyhound race in the world.
David Donegan was shocked when Astute Missile took first place in the English Greyhound Derby and went down in history as the dog with the longest odds ever to ever win the race.
A plasterer by trade, David breeds greyhounds as hobby and said he was thrilled to follow the dog’s success on Saturday.
‘For me it is just a hobby so I was delighted to see it win. I was watching on Sky Sports on Saturday and couldn’t believe that she won the race,’ David said.
David started breeding dogs 10 years ago and this is his biggest win to date and he will now receive a healthy cash prize of £5,000 for his role in the dog’s success.
‘It’s nice to get the prize and this is the biggest success that I have had with my dogs.’
David purchased his first greyhound from local man Eddie Sheridan a decade ago.
It was a dog by the name of ‘Stout Bottles’ who was the mother of China Doll, who was the mother of Astute Missile.
‘I sold Astute Missile to a man in Carlow when she was 12 weeks old and he called her Karlow Melody. He later sold her to her current owner who is the owner of the Astute Electronics company and that is where she got her new name,’ he said.
There were great celebrations in Tinahely on Saturday night in support of David as he raised a glass to Astute Missile in O’Connor’s.
For now he is focusing on the latest litter from China Doll and he expects at least one of the new pups to make its way to England in the future.