1928 April 28 – the NGRC is created with 43 member tracks.
2008 Frank Wright, formerly an assistant to Martin Burt, returns to the Monmore as a contract trainer after switching from Coventry.
1965 The NGRC introduces its ‘associate member’ scheme. It will allow independent tracks to race under the NGRC’s C-licence rules.
1947 A 14 month fawn sapling fetches the top price at Aldridges sapling auctions at 140 guineas (roughly £5,865 at current prices). Bred by Surrey farmer Mr J E Hawkins, the unnamed pup is from a litter of seven pups by Tarmion out of Glasha Beauty who make a combined 632gns (roughly £25,200).
2011 Farley Bitz heads the ante post betting for the bettor.com Scottish Derby at 6-1. Eventual winner Taylors Cruise is 36th on Ladbrokes ante post book at 66-1.
1989 The John Quigley trained Make History who won the Irish Derby and reached the English Derby final is voted Irish Greyhound of the Year.
2001 Trainer Tom Foster puts in the top bid of £800 for a date with Heartbeat’s Tricia Penrose, top attraction in an RGT fund raising night at Wimbledon.
1927 April 16 Manchester (they weren’t widely known as ‘Belle Vue’ at the time) and still Britain’s only greyhound track, hold their first meeting of the new year, just 24 hours after Celtic Park’s first meeting in Ireland. The six races all carry a winner’s prize of £10 (index linked to roughly £582).
1997 In an interview in the Star, Mick Smith, the owner of Blue Murlen, reckons he knew he had a world beater when the dog was still 10 months old. He says: “He’d had one handslip and had flown so we put him in a two-dog trial with a really useful dog with 29.70 on his card at Tralee. Murlen beat him ten lengths on the schooling track and we knew we had something out of the ordinary.”
1946 Among the regulars on the open race scene, the unusually named- C.S.
1996 A proposal by Crayford racing manager Paul Lawrence to decrease the ’28 day rule’ (the period beyond which inactive runners need to retrial) down to 21 days was defeated 20-14 at the racing manager’s conference.
2011 Kilkenny chairman Phil Meaney resigns from that role to become the new Chairman of the Irish Greyhound Board replacing Dick O’Sullivan who departed two months previously.
1997 Irish stud keepers reach agreement to advertise on alternate weeks in the Sporting Press. The estimated £40,000 saving will be spent on race sponsorship.
1931 Major events in April. Spring Cup Final (Wembley), National Open Hurdles (Clapton), Spring Cup (West Ham), Greyhound Guineas (Perry Barr), Gold Cup (Wembley), Gold Cup – hurdles (Wimbledon).
1997 Lisheen Angel, who was led off the Perry Barr Sales bench unsold at 1,100 guineas, proves she was worth every penny when landing the Northern Oaks.
1969 GRA announce that they have 30% interests in Wimbledon and Walthamstow. There are already connections between the different companies with Wimbledon’s John Cearns and the Stow’s Charles Chandler already GRA directors. GRA currently have 13 tracks in outright ownership.
1998 El Tenor gets up close home to win the Grand National Final at Hall Green. It is the dog’s 52nd win in 109 races.
2011 Owner Daren Johnson completes his Give A Bit Back Challenge running and cycling from John O’Groats to Lands End. He raised approximately £20,000 to be split between Help For Heroes and the RGT.
1969 Four year old Tonys Friend extends his winning sequence to 11 when landing the Grand National Final for trainer Randy Singleton. He easily heads the prize money table before going unbeaten through the Scottish National and taking the sequence to 13. The record for any hurdler is 16, held by 1930s star Long Hop.
1987 Newry Yank fetched a record 7,250 guineas at Wimbledon sale (equivalent to £20,230 today). The dog never won an open. Other sales flops included Ring Of Fortune ((4,500gns), Ivy Francis and Townview Dancer (3,000gns each).
1964 John Horsfall, previously at Derby, joins the Catford strength.
1996 American vet Mark Bloomberg reveals results of a five year injury study carried out at 16 tracks in the USA. Of the 1,269 injuries, 562 (44%) are tarsus and 167 13.1%) are to metatarsus (most trainers would consider both of them as hock injuries). Wrist injuries accounted for only 7% of the total. Just under 10% were muscle injuries. The study also concluded that 57% on injuries occur on the bends, that the better class dogs were more likely to become injured but race time or trap position appeared irrelevant.
1965 The hugely popular News of the World Inter-track loses its sponsor. They are rumoured to be disappointed with the publicity generated by the event. The news nevertheless comes as a shock since the paper owns Greyhound Express and one of its directors, Clive Carr, is an NGRC steward.
1947 British racing papers are somewhat curt about the planned American match race between its superstars Flashy Sir and Lucky Pilot. While impressed by the £2,000 prize, they baulk at the nicknames bestowed on the pair, the ‘West Flagler Cannonball’ and the ‘Petersburgh Comet’. They sniffily note “there is enough corn to keep a poultry farm going.”
