The way people follow and engage with sport has changed considerably in recent years. Greyhound racing, like any other sport, needs it superstars. Increasingly, especially in team sports, extra emphasis is being paid to the individual.
Football is the obvious example with boys and girls following big names like Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Mbappe, Haaland rather than the actual teams they play for. In US sports, the biggest names like Brady, James, Mahomes, Durant, Curry etc. are able to name their price. They have a cult like status and almost transcend their respective sports.
Of course, greyhound racing is very different with the star names not demanding anything other than plenty of love, tickles under the chin and plenty of good food but, like every sport, the very best attract big crowds and often raise the pulse of those lucky enough to witness the action live.
And when it comes to the biggest draw in the sport, the box office star, we need look no further than the reigning Irish Derby champion Susie Sapphire. What she achieved in 2021 can scarcely be put into words.
It has been well published that she won the Puppy Oaks and Irish Oaks in stunning fashion before racing to a famous success in the Derby, becoming the first female winner since 1999, and only the third winner to go unbeaten through the classic since the turn of the century.
But she had a far more reaching effect. After a couple of tough years for the sport, her performances through the Derby acted much like a ray of sunlight through the gloom. She put a smile back on the face of each and every person involved in greyhound sport and the sense of appreciation and pure exaltation from the packed stands on Derby final night has scarcely been matched in the past fifty years.
It’s for all these many reasons that her reappearance at Shelbourne Park this Saturday is of such importance. The fact that we could get to see her back at her brilliant best in 2022 is a real cause for celebration.
She has already achieved the near impossible and there is no ceiling to what she could achieve in the future. Her immediate target will be the Bresbet Easter Cup, which commences next weekend, and were she to win the oldest competition on the calendar, she would become the first Derby champion since Spring Time in 1999 to go on and add a further classic to their tally.
Before then she faces a tough comeback assignment. Drawn in trap three, she needs to be at her sensational best in the early yards with Laurels winner One Time Only and the hugely talented Romeo Magico drawn on her inner. Coincidentally, the last time Susie Sapphire suffered defeat, it was behind Romeo Magico last August.
Excuses can be made for that defeat and she is a confident selection to atone for that defeat. Expect Susie Sapphire to produce a trademark explosive start before dominating throughout to bring her winning sequence to seven.
Aside from Susie Sapphire, there will be plenty of clues for the upcoming Bresbet Easter Cup, which promises to be amongst best renewals in the long history of the event.
Elsewhere, Singalong Sally, who chased home Susie Sapphire in last year’s Derby, is the star name on show in the opening round of the Sean Byrne Paint & Decorating sponsored Champion Bitch Stake at Thurles. Another standout entry is Skywalker Angie and both should win their opening round assignments on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the opening round of the Cork Cup in the feature at Curraheen Park. The famous A1 competition should provide some superb racing over the coming weeks.
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