He suffered an injury at Wimbledon Stadium whilst racing which broke the streak in 1931, and once recovered was beaten in the attempt to win a third Derby title.

[2] The smallest of a litter of ten puppies, his father was a direct descendant of Master McGrath, a famous Irish Greyhound who won the Waterloo Cup on three occasions.

[3] Originally expected to be used for hare coursing, a deal was discussed with dog owner Moses Rebenschied to take Mick to America to compete in the Greyhound racing circuit.

However, before the deal could go through a tornado struck St. Louis, Missouri, killing 27 of Rebenschied's Greyhounds when the roof was blown off their kennel, and a further four dogs died when a van driven by his son was overturned by the storm.

Although the Catholic Church in Ireland had no issues with Greyhound racing, the Catholic Church in Great Britain at the time was against it, having published a pamphlet entitled Dog Racing which called it a "threat to Sunday dinners", and described gambling that "the distribution of losses and dividends had an anti-social character because the poorest, the most unhappy, the physically and emotionally handicapped, are made to pay for the professionals and semi-professionals who get hold of intimate knowledge.

[4] In a solo trial prior to the 1929 English Greyhound Derby on 25 July, Mick broke the track record, reducing his odds from an initial 25–1 to becoming the 4–7 favorite to win by the time of the final, despite still being new off the board from Ireland.

Father Browne sold Mick for £800, plus any prize money that the dog would win on the night,[2] which at the time was more than the cost of buying a house in nearby Shepherd's Bush.

Palatinus made the best start, at the first bend both Mick and Entomb attempted to move inside to the rail, but Beadsman collided with both of them, sending all three dogs sprawling.

None of the dogs was allowed to leave the track with until the race was re–run at 9:15 pm, the only comfort given to Mick on a particularly hot summer's evening was a handkerchief soaked in cold water.

[2] Mick then won the Cesarewitch at West Ham and the Welsh Greyhound Derby at the Sloper Road Stadium, setting the world record again, this time at 29.55 seconds over 525 yards (480 m).

During the run, he broke world records on four occasions and newspaper editors stopped using the headline of "Wonder Dog", instead replacing it with simply "Invincible".

He suffered shock defeats by Mick's Fancy in the eleventh heat of the 1931 English Greyhound Derby, and again by five lengths in the second round by a new Irish import, a dog called Ryland R who weighed over 80 pounds (36 kg).

The two dogs made contact and swung wide, the race steward spotted that Ryland had turned to snap at Seldom Lad and set off the no–race klaxon.

Despite being bumped earlier in the race, he found the inside rail and moved up past the others, beating Golden Hammer by a head at the line.

Mick lost a fourth race in a row for the first time ever, and the Derby trophy was awarded to Seldom Lad's owners amid a host of boos from the crowd.

"[2] He was featured in articles around the world including Welt im Bild (Germany), the Herald Sun (Australia) and The American Weekly (USA).

[9] Mick died on 6 May 1939,[12] a few weeks short of his thirteenth birthday,[13] having amassed around £20,000 in stud fees, from appearances in films, and in prize money.

He stands in cabinet 58 of the household dogs section at the museum in an airtight case filled with an insecticide called Vapona in order to prevent any damage by insects.

The statue was created by Northern Irish artist Liz O'Kane, and was unveiled by the Taoiseach of Ireland, Brian Cowen.