McDonagh brothers take it all in their stride

“HAVE dog will travel” appears to be the motto of Liscannor brothers, Declan and Terry McDonagh, particularly when they think highly enough of the greyhound.
Three weeks ago they headed up the N17 on a 200-mile plus round trip to Tubbercurry in Sligo. Keeping them company in the back of the van was the strapping fawn bitch, Kinielty Jazz, a runner in the Tubbercurry Oaks Trial Stake. For the coursing-mad brothers, distance wasn’t a problem.
Like most of the dogs entered at the three-day meeting, it was last-chance saloon as regards Clonmel qualification because barring Macroom’s midweek meeting in mid-January, it was the final weekend where trial stakes were up for grabs.
“It was make or break in Tubbercurry. If she wasn’t good enough to win the trial stake, there wouldn’t be much point keeping her as a two-course duffer for next season,” he adds.
Out of the Trajectory-Scartview Laura litter, Declan acquired the bitch from Tom O’Connor in Castleisland and when he started working her ahead of the opening of the coursing season at his home meeting in Liscannor, he felt she had oodles of promise.
“I thought an awful lot of her starting off but when she went up a coursing field for some reason she kept going off line. She was whelped in late May, maybe she was too young and needed more time. She was running awful green,” he remembers.
The bitch broke down two weeks before Liscannor but Declan still let her take her chances in the trial stake.
“We gave her a run and she went off line. I suppose we were none the wiser after the run,” he concedes. And neither was he any the wiser after her next appearance in Kilrush-Killimer at the end of November.
“She met Bend Your Knee in the opening buckle and ran her to a length and a half.
Again, she ran green but Bend Your Knee subsequently went on to win a trial stake at Castletowngeoghegan and is now one of the favourites for the Greyhound and Pet World Oaks.
“On that running, and given what Bend Your Knee did subsequently, we had to keep faith with her,” he says.
The next port of call was the Ennis- Clarecastle meeting where Kinielty Jazz was second reserve. However, she was promoted but was a first-round casualty. She then reappeared at the South Clare meeting where she showed much more promise before bowing out in the third round.
From that run in Cooraclare, Declan felt she had come on leaps and bounds. It was the first time he didn’t doubt his initial assessment of the bitch.
“Looking back on it now, I think she was only coming right at Cooraclare. It was the only day she looked like she had finally got her act together,” he adds.
Tubbercurry beckoned and Declan admits it was make or break for the season in Sligo.
“I always knew she had pace and in the first run down of the stake, only one bitch clocked faster and that was by three spots. We fancied our chances after that. She ran impressive enough, winning all her courses by a few lengths.
“I suppose it was great to see her deliver on the promise I always felt she had. At times, you might doubt yourself but it was mighty when she did win. It’s the first trial stake dog I’ve had and it’s unbelievable to think that I’m now heading to Clonmel.
“People are in dogs all their lives and never had a qualifier for the classics. Here am I heading off with my first trial stake runner. I just can’t believe my luck and in this game, luck plays a big part. It’s mighty,” he emphasises.
After giving Kinielty Jazz a couple of weeks off after her heroics in Tubbercurry, Declan started back by swimming her in the sea.
“We put a few gallops into her on the beach. There’s great excitement altogether and hopefully she’ll put up a few flags for us in Clonmel,” he says.
If she does, he’ll be happy out.