Harold's Cross

A year after Celtic Park had become the first greyhound stadium in Ireland, Harold’s Cross was opened on April 28th 1928. It was Easter Tuesday and a crowd of 15,000 turned out for the first meeting at a stadium we were told had a capacity for 40,000. J.B. Frazer, a director of White City stadium, was the chairman of the Dublin Greyhound & Sports Association and he supervised that opening meeting at the new track. There were six different admission rates at that stage. The grand stand cost five shillings for a “gent” and half a crown for a “lady”. But it cost an extra half a crown to enter the reserved grand stand. The special enclosure cost two shillings and half that for a lady while entry to the popular enclosure cost a shilling. Travel was convenient.

The advertisement for the opening night informed us that you could get there by Tram cars No.’s 16 & 17 from Nelson’s Pillar which stopped at the main entrance to the track. The first race ever run at Harold’s Cross was the Ulster Plate for bitches with a winners prize of £10. It was won by Dragues, a 5/4 chance owned by M.J. Mulhall.  The greatest names in the history of greyhound racing thrilled the Harold’s Cross regulars down through the years. They include the greatest of them all, the legendary pair Mick The Miller and Spanish Battleship. Mick The Miller won the Spring cup over 525 yards on May 21st, 1929 and finished second in the Stayers cup over 600 yards on June 28th, 1929. He was to go on to become a legend in Britain by winning the English Derby in 1929 and 1930. But Spanish Battleship will be remembered as the greatest dog ever to race around Harold’s Cross. He won the Derby three times between 1953 and 1955, the first and third successes coming at Harold’s Cross where he also won a number of other feature events.

The Irish Derby was run for the first time at Harold’s Cross in 1934 when it was won by Frisco Hobo and it was run virtually every second year between then and 1968 when it was moved permanently to Shelbourne Park. All of the above evoke wonderful memories of the past and the canine heroes of today share the grace, speed, desire and elegance of their illustrious forbear of yester year.!