Clonmel Greyhound Stadium

The first race held at Clonmel took place on 20 March 1931. The track is situated on the Old Waterford Road just off Davis Road and is also the headquarters of the Irish Coursing Club (ICC).[4] The ICC moved into the town of Clonmel in 1921 and the secretary Tom Morris became the first managing director of the greyhound racecourse. In 1931 the Horse Show Society agreed with the Greyhound Racing Club of Clonmel to lease the grounds for £250 per year. The Racing Manager was Tim Rice and the circuit was 480 yards in circumference running the standard main distance of 525 yards.[5]

The Oaks was held here in 1932 and the Clonmel public were lucky to see the magnificent bitch Queen of the Suir win the race. The following year the track was selected to host both the Oaks and St Leger. The running of the Irish St Leger was the one and only time at the track and resulted in a victory for the legendary Brilliant Bob. The May 1931 whelp was introduced to track racing in 1933 and after finishing runner-up in the Easter Cup won the St Leger over 550 yards in 31.53.[6]

The premier racing event to be held at Clonmel would be the National Sapling Stakes (which would become the National Breeders Produce Stakes). The first running was in 1939 and was claimed by Sporting Fancy. A year later in 1940 Tanist became the first greyhound to break 30 seconds at Clonmel recording 29.85 over 525 yards. The track renamed the National Sapling Stakes to the National Puppy Cup before it became the National Breeders Produce Stakes in 1947.[7]

The next milestone came in 1946 when in the second round of the National Puppy Cup a greyhound called Quare Times clocked an amazing 29.75sec to set a new track record. In 1947 the ICC moved into new headquarters so that they could administer the sport in addition to housing 'The Sporting Press' a newspaper owned by the ICC. The struggling racecourse known as Powerstown Park had also been acquired by the ICC which used the venue for coursing inside the horse racing circuit. They retained some horse racing meetings maintaining the Park as a going concern.

The track would come under the control of the Bord na gCon in 1960 that purchased the track from the Morris family. There were no major developments over the next couple of decades except for the introduction of a new event called the Munster Cup and the 1979 retirement of Christy Mulcahy the Racing Manager. One event that was not welcome was the regular flooding of the track from the nearby River Suir.[8]

In 1986 the track was closed to allow a complete renovation with the re-opening in spring 1987, the track underwent major changes as well going all-sand and introducing the controversial Australian Noel Bramwich hare.[9] The track improvements changed the expected times recorded and Balalika set a new track record of 28.68 over 525 yards on a circumference of 593 yards.

The lease for Clonmel was bought out by the Clonmel Leisure Group from the Bord na gCon in 1991 but the track closed down in 1998 following an ongoing dispute over the lease and freehold agreements between the Clonmel Leisure Group and the Clonmel Agricultural Show.[10]

In 2000 it was hoped that a new track could be constructed at Powerstown Park. Meetings were held between the Irish Coursing Club (tenants at Powerstown Park), the Irish Greyhound Board, the Tipperary County Council, Government Minister Noel Davern, and Clonmel's Mayor, Tom Ambrose but the problems continued and a solution was not found. Eventually it was agreed that the greyhound track section of the showgrounds would be sold to the Davis Road Greyhound Racing Company.[11]

Before re-opening in 2003 the stadium was upgraded and modernised signalling a new start with Red Mills becoming sponsors of the National Produce Stakes and Barry Coleman becoming Racing Manager.[12] The former Racing Manager Gus Ryan retired in 2009 after 42 years in racing.[13]

In 2012 Clonmel earned contributions from the Irish Greyhound Board and received a €1 million investment allowing the owners to knock down the old stand and rebuild a new modern grandstand.