The four Ladbrokes Coral tracks, Monmore, Romford, Crayford and Hove are each set to unveil their Hall of Fame this weekend.
The aim is to formally recognise outstanding contributions made over the years by staff, owners, trainers, greyhounds and others in their support of each track.
LadbrokesCoral Stadia Director Ian Smyth said: “The idea stemmed from a conversation with Richard Marling & Graham Carpenter, two Romford owners, at the time we re-launched the track. We were talking about the history at the track and some of those people who had made contributions to it’s success spanning a number of decades
“At the time I felt we just had too much going on to do the concept justice so we planned at all four tracks to launch this weekend with an initial six inductees at each venue.
“There is so much history at each of our tracks and while we will continue to try to find new ways to do things it is important that the tracks retain their heritage and history and this is hopefully a small step in allowing us to achieve this.
“To whittle the list down to an initial six at each track was extremely challenging and split opinions in all four locations. I am sure there will plenty of views on who should and shouldn’t have been included. This is just the start and was not intended to be a definitive list.
“We have a huge amount of knowledge at each track and used that expertise to select the first six. There are few who know more about Hove than Pat Kelly for example.
“Looking ahead we plan to induct into the hall of fame twice yearly in January & July from this point and will open up the opportunity for owners, trainers & customers alike to send in their nominations before each selection process.
“We also have plans for a couple of special awards & inductions around some of our big final nights throughout the year – more will become obvious on that front in the next few weeks
“Starting at Monmore on Thursday, Romford on Friday & Hove & Crayford on Saturday we have invited each inductee (or connections of) to the track and have a race named after them.”
Alison Bandurak
The event kicks off today at Monmore with:
Alison Bandurak, a keypin for many years behind the local home finders scheme and owner at the track with husband Michael.
Elderberry Veron locally bred and a prolific open winner for Pat Cowdrill. Victories included the 2004 Gold Cup
Chris Allsopp a former local trainer and Trainer of the Year
Kranky Scott a prolific local grader who raced until six years old and 200 races
Chris Allsopp
Florence Rowley ‘Mrs Monmore’ – hugely popular employee at the track, still going strong after more than 50 years
Peter Billingham a popular local trainer based at Swindon, near Dudley who died last year with daughter Kim maintaining the legacy
Kranky Scott
Elderberry Veron
