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for the first time with Own Pride and four years later in 1973 he claimed a second Irish Derby title and arguably became the most prominent trainer in Irish racing at the time. It was around this time that he started sending strong teams to compete in the
216:. McKenna would experience major success at regular intervals over the following years. Major race wins became second nature and records tumbled. His greyhound Yanka Boy won the 1967
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McKenna died in May 2014 leaving a wife Josie and three sons Ger, John and Owen. His legacy is that he is the regarded as the best Irish trainer of all time.
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with
Lartigue Note, he became the first person to achieve more than one Irish and English Derby win. Included in his 45 major competition wins are twelve
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McKenna retired in 1999 transferring the racing operation to one of his sons Owen McKenna who won the Irish Derby himself in 2004.
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for McKenna, this was only the second time anybody had trained both and Irish and
English winner (The first was Paddy Keane).
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200:. His father introduced him to greyhound racing and was a successful trainer in his own right winning the
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His first major success came in 1956 with his favourite greyhound Prince of
Bermuda who won the
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Irish Derby finals became regular occurrences and then in 1981 Parkdown Jet won the
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117:(1956, 1960, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1984)
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regarded as the greatest Irish trainer of all time. He won the
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and
Ballymaclune provided his first finalist in that event in
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Greyhound Derby, the first 60 years, pages 172/173/174/175
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twice. From 1956 until 1996 he won 45 major competitions.
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105:(1970, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1996)
332:The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing, page 106
8:
16:Irish greyhound racing professional trainer
517:"Maestro Ger McKenna defined a generation"
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20:
502:"Death of legendary trainer Ger McKenna"
250:After a second English Derby success in
292:50 Years of Greyhound Racing in Ireland
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400:– via British Newspaper Archive.
372:– via British Newspaper Archive.
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548:Sportspeople from County Tipperary
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309:. Pelham Books Ltd. p. 261.
453:Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File
563:Irish greyhound racing trainers
515:Fortune, Michael (8 May 2014).
415:. Victory Irish Promotions Ltd.
413:Irish Greyhound Derby 1932–1981
1:
307:NGRC book of Greyhound Racing
245:1981 English Greyhound Derby
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385:"Yanka Boy wins top award"
240:he trained the runner up.
202:1956 Irish Greyhound Derby
294:. Aherlow Publishers Ltd.
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476:Hobbs, Jonathan (2008).
99:(1963, 1967, 1975, 1987)
357:"Square Express napped"
230:English Greyhound Derby
178:English Greyhound Derby
84:English Greyhound Derby
451:Barnes, Julia (1988).
236:and one year later in
478:Greyhound Annual 2008
426:Dick, Barrie (1990).
330:Genders, Roy (1981).
305:Genders, Roy (1990).
225:Irish Greyhound Derby
218:greyhound of the year
174:Irish Greyhound Derby
120:Irish National Sprint
90:Irish Greyhound Derby
80:Classic/Feature wins:
334:. Pelham Books Ltd.
223:In 1969 Ger won the
176:three times and the
166:Gerard 'Ger' McKenna
455:. Ringpress Books.
430:. Ringpress Books.
364:. 20 September 1969
411:Fortune, Michael.
204:with Keep Moving.
147:(1980, 1982, 1976)
135:(1972, 1975, 1976)
93:(1969, 1973, 1987)
521:Irish Independent
504:. Irish Examiner.
390:Belfast Telegraph
362:Belfast Telegraph
170:greyhound trainer
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96:Irish Cesarewitch
74:Major racing wins
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214:Irish St Leger
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138:Produce Stakes
132:Shelbourne 600
114:Irish St Leger
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290:Comyn, John.
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260:Irish Laurels
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168:was an Irish
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102:Irish Laurels
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524:. Retrieved
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480:. Raceform.
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394:. Retrieved
392:. 9 May 1968
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366:. Retrieved
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153:(1967, 1973)
141:(1973, 1976)
123:(1965, 1969)
87:(1981, 1989)
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558:2014 deaths
553:1930 births
198:Gay McKenna
190:Borrisokane
56:Borrisokane
25:Ger McKenna
542:Categories
526:25 October
277:References
258:and eight
184:Early life
156:Easter Cup
126:Irish Oaks
69:7 May 2014
40:Occupation
396:15 August
368:12 August
44:Trainer
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208:Career
159:(1969)
129:(1979)
111:(1990)
269:Death
528:2021
482:ISBN
457:ISBN
432:ISBN
398:2024
370:2024
336:ISBN
311:ISBN
252:1989
238:1976
234:1975
66:Died
53:1930
50:Born
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
