College Causeway raised the roof at Shelbourne Park with a stunning last to first victory in the Paddypower Irish Greyhound Derby.
The 5-4 favourite, advised at 9-2 before the semis, broke evenly from the boxes but found himself turning in last place some 10 lengths behind lightening starter Oran Classic after getting sandwiched between Cashen Legend and Shaneboy Lee on the run up to the first bend.
At that stage his chance to many in last night’s Sky News televised event would have looked gone, but those who know the Causeway knew what was going to happen next.
The dog darted to the inside to grab the rails and the huge crowd went wild as he kicked into turbo and simply flew between the second and third bends.
His giant strides saw him demolish Oran Classic’s huge advantage in the flash of an eye and from that point there was ever only going to be one winner.
He swung around the home turn in full flow and simply powered his way past Oran to win going away at the line and land the 175,000 euro final in a style never seen before
"Tonight is the greatest night, I'd say, of my life," said joint-owner Vince McKenna. "He's probably one of the greatest dogs of all time."
Few will disagree with that statement. The son of Go Wild Teddy has now won 31 of his 43 races and was unbeaten in six gruelling rounds of this competition.
