O'Connor felt that he had gone well enough and phoned trainer Tom Lynch in Dublin and asked him to train the dog for forthcoming 1953 Irish Greyhound Derby.
The Irish Derby was taking place at Shelbourne Park and the good news was that Spanish Battleship was fit to defend his crown and would be hot favourite based on his current form.
The following evening Spanish Battleship broke the track record with a remarkable 28.50 run, leading to the Irish press stating that it was a foregone conclusion for the dog to win again.
The final looked like a formality and so it proved as Spanish Battleship wrote his name into the history books as the first ever two time Irish Derby winner.
Due to there being only 36 entries this year there was a rest before the semi-finals and Lynch gave Battleship a trial which seemed to help because when the semis arrived he won his heat from Mile Bush Champion by three lengths and Makra Bibs failed to make the final.
[8] The Harolds Cross stadium was overwhelmed by crowds attempting to get a look at the greyhound in the final and he was backed into favourite at 5–4 with Crostys Bell drifting in the market at 7–4.
Before he retired, he broke the track record at Cork Greyhound Stadium during his Laurels victory later that month[9] followed by another McCalmont Cup success and ran in a few exhibition races.