| 1961 Irish Greyhound Derby | |
| Date End: | 11 August |
| Prize Money: | £1,250 (winner) |
| Venue: | Harold's Cross Stadium |
| Location: | Dublin |
| Prev: | 1960 |
| Next: | 1962 |
The 1961 Irish Greyhound Derby took place during July and August with the final being held at Harold's Cross Stadium in Dublin on 11 August 1961.[1]
The winner Chieftain's Guest won £1,250 and was trained and bred by Leslie McNair, and jointly owned by McNair and Eric McCullough.[2]
At Harold's Cross, 11 August (over 525 yards):
| width=50 | Position | width=180 | Name of Greyhound | width=280 | Breeding | width=50 | Trap | width=50 | SP | width=80 | Time | width=250 | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Chieftain's Guest | Knock Hill Chieftain - Star Guest | 1 | 5-2 | 29.45 | Leslie McNair | |||||||
| 2nd | Skips Choice | Romola's Dante - Phil Skip | 6 | 5-1 | 29.49 | Gay McKenna | |||||||
| 3rd | The Grand Canal | Champion Prince - The Grand Duchess | 4 | 4-1 | 29.57 | Paddy Dunphy | |||||||
| 4th | Wild Maid | Champion Prince - Much Loved | 3 | 6-4f | |||||||||
| 5th | Ballycashen Rory | unknown | 2 | 20-1 | |||||||||
| 6th | Evening Iris | unknown | 5 | 100-7 |
½, 1 (lengths)
Long Story and Sandown Dick were major eliminations during the first round and Clonmel record holder Odd Venture broke a hock whilst leading. First round winners included The Grand Canal, Ireland's leading bitch Wild Maid, Evening Irish and Ballycashen Rory.[3]
In the second round The Grand Canal won again with Spark of Delight and Wild Maid also impressing. The first semi-final went to Wild Maid in 29.32 and The Grand Canal who remained unbeaten after recording 29.36 in the second semi-final. The final semi was won by Skips Choice in a slower time of 29.84.[4]
The final saw three greyhounds prominent early, Skips Choice had etched out a lead but the strong finishing Chieftains Guest caught him and won by half a length to land a hefty gamble with The Grand Canal also running on strongly a further length behind. Chieftains Guest who had failed to win a race leading up to the final was to finish lame on his wrist.[4]