1959 Randly Singleton, a GRA Northaw employee for 24 years – barring seven years in the Royal Artillary – is to get his first trainer’s job. The Northaw headman will take over temporary responsibility for Belle Vue trainer Ralph Hencher who is unwell. Randy’s brother Jimmy is head man to White City trainer Frank Taylor.
1985 The NGRC announce that they have registered 1,763 trainers for the new year. They include 1,132 permits (up from 1,021), 279 owners trainers (up from 246), and 352 professionals (down from 362).
2000 Wimbledon announce a rise in tote deductions from 24 to 25%.
1985 Monmore announce a 10% increase in prize money. Top heat winners will receive £30 (index linked to roughly £76 in 2012. The actual prize is now £161).
1947 Report in Greyhound Breeder “Hysteria broke out in the Wandsworth racing kennels last Saturday and caused the postponement of the second and third races.”
1959 Britain’s best known boxing promoter Jack Solomons is to sell his racehorses but keep his greyhounds Savings Bank and Tintern Princess.
1988 Three track managements are each fined £500 by the NGRC. The Stow earn their penalty after a paddock steward inadvertently opened the kennel of Barry Silkman’s Skomal when the trainer was not present. Monmore are fined when it transpires that a racing kennel, subject to a different enquiry, had not been locked. The Wembley management allowed a runner, under veterinary instruction to have a drink of water after weighing in, but then failed to re-weigh the dog.
1947 With electricity being restricted, GRA announce that for the foreseeable future, track lighting will not be used during meetings. Instead two spotlights will shine on the field, “saving an estimated 40 minutes of power per meeting”.
1992 Balligari (2-1f) finishes last behind litter brother Right Move (Daleys Gold-Westmead Move) in the Sporting Life Juvenile. The 27.66 winner held off Taringa Bay by half a length. The field was completed by Ballyard Curtis, Murlens Abbey and Comrades Delight.
1959 White City patrons have a real crowd pleaser in hurdler Harwood Sterling. At the end of every race, the dog turns around, re-jumps the last hurdle, then jumps it again before making his way back to the paddock.
1947 An outbreak of distemper breaks out in Britain and Ireland though in a letter to the press, one veteran trainer suggests the new disease is not new at all. He writes: “The mysterious disease of which you write this week has been coming to a head for a long time. Old timers know it as ‘Stuttgart disease’. Mr Montagu-Harrison gives a very good picture of it. I attended dogs in India as far back as 1904. I again saw it in 1920 when I started a boarding kennels. Most of the cases came in as being poisoned. The cases were too far gone for any treatment. I had it among around 150 greyhounds in 1933. At this time I was getting weekly batches of greyhounds from Ireland. I knew from experience that this disease was very persistent among Irish dogs jut coming across. I put this down to dogs lying on iron decks getting their abdomens wet, lying in draughty stations etc..” Among the most recent victims was Irish Derby winner Steve who died in the Clapton racing kennels.
1959 Pall Mall and Gold Collar winner Silent Worship returns to England to stand at stud after a wasted year in Australia. The son of The Grand Champion had been unable to acclimatise down under.
1959 Wine Steward, a grader at Gosforth recently won his 115th race – but then he is just five months short of his NINTH birthday. The amazing hound by coursing sire Lord Lieutenant actually had a season’s coursing before being entered in Aldridge’s Sale where he was bought by Gosforth’s sister track, Crayford. In total, Wine Steward has raced on 446 occasions. His owners have promised to retire the dog to a life on a farm when he gets to 120 wins.
1968 White City’s prestigious Longcross Cup, won two years previously by Monalee Champion, is switched into a graded sweepstake due to open race restrictions caused by Foot & Mouth Disease. It is won by Switch Hitter, one of the first progeny by American import Rocket Ship.
