Lifford Greyhound Stadium

Lifford Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing track located in Lifford, County Donegal, Ireland.^[1]

Racing took place every Saturday evening and the facilities included the Champion Stakes Restaurant, fast food facilities, a number of bars, totalisator betting and seating.^[2]

Race distances were 350, 525, 550, 575, 750 and 820 yards.^[3]

History[]

The Lifford Greyhound Stadium was built in 1959 when cattle dealer James Magee decided to convert some more of his grazing land from a schooling track into a professional 495 yard circumference circuit. Magee died in 1971 and his sons Cathal and Seamus took over the track as the Racing and General Managers around the same time that a new stand was erected at the venue.^[4]

The main event originally held at the track was the Irwin Cup but it did not feature highly on the Irish racing calendar and during the late 1970s an event called the Abraham David Trophy was contested featuring significant prize money. Many top greyhounds have appeared here including Yellow Printer who began his career at Lifford as a puppy.^[5]

After 32 years association the track was put up for sale by the Magee family in 1991 and was eventually bought by new owners in 2001 when Willie, Hugh and Patrick Duffy formed the Lifford Greyhound Racing Company.^[6] On 11 September 2003 the track re-opened after undergoing a €12m refit with a new grandstand, two restaurants and improved facilities.^[7]

Closure[]

During 2018, the stadium was put up for sale at a price of 1.9 million euros. The following year it was announced that the last race meeting would be on Saturday 17 August 2019 before the stadium was permanently closed. Racing Manager Matthew Duffy blamed the lack of support from the Irish Greyhound Board.^[8][9]

Track records[]

Final track records[]

^{[10] [11] [12][13]}

Former track records[]

References[]

External links[]

• Irish Greyhound Board