It was during the build-up to last weekend’s Irish Greyhound Derby semi-finals that the people at Shelbourne Park tweeted a photo of Oreo Ollie. And honest to God, you’d swear butter wouldn’t melt.
It was Pauric Lodge, though, who brought us the news on Morning Ireland that suggested there might be a roguish element to the fella. (Ollie, not Pauric).
Having finished second in his semi-final with a late charge, Ollie was disqualified for “fighting with another dog during the closing stages”.
He had, Pauric told us, “swerved inwards towards Barefoot On Song and made an aggressive action towards the bitch in the final 10 strides”. This unchivalrous action was spotted by the stewards in the photo finish – it showed Ollie’s head “pointing in the direction” of Barefoot as they crossed the line.
RM Block
This might be where men complain that they can’t even look at a woman now without getting in to trouble, but glaring at Barefoot in that manner was, explained commentator Ian Fortune, “the final nail in the coffin” for Ollie.
This, of course, called to mind the time Eamonn Coghlan threw a glance at Dmitriy Dmitriyev as he overtook him in the 5,000m final at the 1983 World Championships – and he wasn’t disqualified.
In fairness, he didn’t swerve inwards towards the Russian, but the gesture was a little goady, as perhaps Ollie’s was too?
Was it a kind of a ‘see ya later, bitch’ message, which would be unacceptable, or was it something harmless? Like, ‘aren’t we right eejits to be chasing a metal hare?’. Or ‘fair play, you’re very fast for a woman’. Or ‘at least our names aren’t as stupid as yer man’s’, in reference to the winner and favourite for the final, Cheap Sandwiches.
(Dan Brassil, the man who reared Cheap Sandwiches, a wholly inelegant moniker for a pedigree pooch, said he was named after a night out in Las Vegas, but that the details of the story will remain untold. Probably just as well.)
But who’s to tell why Ollie pointed his head in Barefoot’s direction? Who’s to say it was a necessarily aggressive action? That’s the thing. Anyone who has ever tried to figure out what a dog is thinking knows that it’s a pointless task. A Labrador might look permanently sad, but it doesn’t mean they’re thinking about climate change, it could be that they’re grieving over the emptiness of their treats tin.
Pauric, though, showed no sympathy at all to Ollie. “His unsporting conduct has seen him thrown out of the competition,” he said. “A bit of a shock because greyhounds are normally so placid and easy-going, they’d be chilling out at home, but obviously there’s no excusing that behaviour.”
With a €300,000 prize purse up for grabs in the final, €125,000 going to the winner and even the last three collecting €10,000 each, Ollie’s disqualification is no laughing matter for his trainer, Kerryman Jack Kennelly.
Worse, according to the rules, Ollie will have to run two “clearance trials” before his suspension is lifted, needing to show he can complete both of them without interfering with his rivals nor pointing his head in their direction as they cross the line.
Come Saturday, though, he’ll be watching the Irish Derby on telly. Presumably, the poor fella, from the dog house.
