Ladbroke Coral have announced the latest recipients of their Hall Of Fame awards.
Director of Stadia Ian Smyth said: “These are the latest additions to our Hall of Fame which kicked off in happier times in January. While we can’t invite the latest inductees into the track just yet we wanted to maintain the recognition programme and hope to be able to properly thank them for their contributions when we reopen our doors later in the year.
“Some fantastic additions covering all aspects of the sport from the greyhounds themselves to trainer, owner, breeder, work colleagues & rehomers – complete coincidence but a nice split!”
Hove – Gunner Smith
Gunner Smith of similar stature to George Curtis was heralded as one of the greatest trainers of the post war era and he still achieved big race find this as an octogenarian just prior to his farewell from Hove at the end of 1991. Albourne was the base for the trainer who handled such top class performers as Luxury Liner, Bellini, Jingling Star, Westland Steve, Seagulls (late Gleneagle) Laugh Lines, Westlands Bridge, Macs Jeannie, Lulus Hero, Househunter and Sambuca
Gunner Smith’s Bunny Hoard won the inaugural running of the Regency which was initially a produce stake and later became an all-aged stayers feature in 1966, and the perpetual trophy was taken back to Albourne by Smith on six other occasions – by Box Hedge (1954) Barnaby Rudge (1956), Mr Watt (1960), Luxury Liner (1961), Jingling Star (1979) and Macs Jeannie (1984)
In the twilight of his career his best greyhound was Young Jamie who won the 1991 Racing Post Bags Championship Final at Hove, the E Coomes Challenge at Hove as well as finishing third to Shanavulin Bingo in the Olympic and second to Lyons Monks in the Sussex Cup.
Owners including Jimmy ‘Mr Hove’ Jubb, John Joycey, Stan Banks, Bernie Pierce, Colin Barnett, Brian Reeves, Sue Bunn, Peter Horne, Alec Kovats, David Humphreys, Tony Noble and Robert Delacour all had particularly fond memories with the kennel and Doreen Barwick, Smith’s headgirl, took over from the retiring handler in January 1992
Crayford – Diana Illingworth
Well known by all at Crayford Diana completed 39 years service at the stadium starting as an office assistant and progressed through the ranks throughout her career at the Stadium culminating in the Operations Manager position prior to her retirement in September 2018.
Diana has worked tirelessly in the area of rehoming and is a key player in the Friends of Crayford Retired Greyhounds alongside her husband Richard.
This involvement has only increased since her retirement and she continues to do a fantastic job, alongside her colleagues at the FOCRG in promoting this vital part of the industry.
Monmore – Pete Richards
Pete began his serious involvement with Greyhounds when he joined forces with trainer Pat Ryan about 34 years ago, and after very little success with the purchase of a Greyhound called Engine Breaker they decided that breeding was the way forward and began to breed under the Prefix Elderberry named after Pete’s home Elderberry Cottage.
Pete continued to support the kennels when Patricia Cowdrill took the reigns following Pat’s untimely passing with notable successes including Elderberry Chick (Champion Stakes), Elderberry Veron (Gold Cup) and in 2008 Elderberry Azel became the only British bred category one winner that year with success in the Summer stayers.
Romford – Chopchop Hope
Retiring on the 18th October 2019 at just over 4 years of age, Hope ‘The Queen of Romford’ competed in 98 open races winning 50 of them, she was sent off favourite for 68 of these 98 races.
During her career she racked up separate runs of 5 & 6 wins on the bounce and loved the attention the Friday night Open programme gave her at Romford each week. Her career finished with her completed yet another hattrick of wins. Hope was crowned dog of the year by RPGTV retiring on a high.
In 2020 Hope whelped her first litter of pups who will be ready to race in 2021 and is now loving life living with Yvonne and her team.
