Derby winner owner trainer Danny Riordan admits to sadness that some of the people who would most have enjoyed his success are no longer around to share it writes Floyd Amphlett.
He said: “Trainer Graham Sharp would be one in particular who I would have loved to have been there. He was such a nice decent man who loved his racing. But there were plenty of others from my past who contacted me to congratulate me, including Linda Mullins, who I have known for so many years, along with her late husband Pat of course.”
Originally from Portmagee in South Kerry, Danny’s greyhound roots go back to ‘hunting’ with greyhounds and eventually onto coursing.
After a spell in Tipperary, he came to England for a career in the construction industry (“I have been in tunnelling all my life”) in around 1959 and was soon involved in racing and coursing.
He said: “I absolutely loved coursing and still miss the big events. I always had a few decent dogs. In the mid 1980s, we had One To Seven who contested the Champion Stakes at Newmarket. I still miss the Waterloo Cup.
“But there were track dogs too. I had runners with George Miller – Peter’s father – at Southend, and others with Dave Oswald at Romford, plus a few at Ramsgate.”
Danny began training himself around 25 years ago and his big win was celebrated passionately on both sides of the Irish Sea, particularly at Henlow.
He said: “I love the place. They are such decent people there, real greyhound enthusiasts, though it goes a bit under the radar.
“The track is very good. They have a noisy hare which is driven close to the dogs and it is a great place to judge a greyhound. We had had a few setbacks with Rio Quattro, including having a tendon removed, but that 27.07 trial at Henlow convinced me we still had a greyhound. There aren’t many greyhounds capable of a run like that.
“Quattro is a dog you have to mind between races but in the week leading up to the final he was buzzing.
“We had narrowly been beaten by the Farloe Blitz earlier in the competition without our dog trapping. I believed Quattro was faster on the backstraight and thought we had a decent chance. So it proved and then he cut inside at the third bend. I still can’t take it in.
“I still haven’t decided what we will do going forward. The boys (breeders Sean and Michael Dunphy) may have a say in that – we’ll see.
In the meantime, a week on Sunday, we will be taking him to Henlow to be paraded on the track. It will be a great night.”
