1981 Two fund raising meetings, one at White City and one at Perry Barr, staged in memory of recently deceased champion trainer Pat Mullins, raise over £8,000 for his widow and family.
1975 For the second year in a row, neither ITV or BBC plan to televise the English Derby Final.
2010 Steve Winfield takes over from Ian Reynolds (who resigned in November) as the chairman of the Greyhound Regulatory Board.
1986 Jenny Pitman has her first winner as a greyhound owner when Rebel Light wins a graded race at Oxford.
1975 Australian racing authorities are forced into a re-think over their entire drug testing policies after New South Wales owner-trainer Alan Chauncey won a court case on a technicality. He is re-instated and paid $1500 in compensation.
1997 Gold Collar winner Homeside Knight starts at 150-1 in a heat of the Blue Riband featuring Some Picture and Blue Murlen. He finishes third but still performs better than the real outsider Jacksamazingrace who goes to traps at 200-1.
1969 Leading Irish sire Prairie Flash is removed from stud duties after having a hind leg removed due to a cancerous growth.
1996 Work begins on a £1.5m refurbishment at Wimbledon. The most visible change will be the relocation of the racing kennels from within the main grandstand, where the runners could be viewed by the public, to a new location under the grandstand at the first bend.
1972 Catford, one of the small of all NGRC tracks, introduce eight-dog racing.
2010 Eye Onthe Storm is cut to 7-1 Derby favourite after breaking his own 480 metre track record in Hall Green’s Blue Riband Final. Mark Wallis’ dog beats Ballymac Ace by three and a half lengths in 28.02.
1997 BS Spokesman Stephen Rea announces that the company will build a grandstand “that would much resemble Hall Green’s” if they are able to reach agreement to introduce greyhound racing at Dewsbury RLFC.
1969 Former marathon stars Boothroyden Larry and Boothroyden Flash are sold as stud dogs at a rare Sapling Sale at Hackney. They make 140gns and 150gns respectively. Top lot among the saplings were two Prince Of Roses pups who each made 100gns (index linked to £1,370).
1959 Joe Ollis, former head man to Sidney Orton gives his opinion on the changing temperament of greyhounds in 30 years. He says: “The modern greyhound is so utterly unlike his predecessor in terms of temperament as to be almost a different species. In the old days, no kennelman would dare to take out more than five or six at a time. Should anything move they would be off, dragging their handler along the ground with the greatest of ease. It was hjs keenness that gave the old-timer the will to win. It always took half a dozen hefty men to collect the runners at the hare escape after a race – before they chewed each other. Nowadays the girls stand there while the dogs trot up to be patted. Give me the old ‘uns with guts any time.”
1982 Scottish independent Blantyre closes to make way for a council redevelopment scheme.
1988 Michael O’Donovan’s Waterloo Cup winner React Fraggle has failed a chromatography test. Stewards have withheld prize money prior to a full enquiry.
1997 Yarmouth bookies are beaming on their stools when the first four open race favourites are chinned. Punters will surely come out on top in the last, a four runner marathon, with an 8-13fav. No – he gets beat by the unfortunately named, Reasons To Smile.
1947 Shawfield racing manager Cecil Davie is so confident that Ballashill Still Heads is good enough to beat the best dogs in London that he sends the back-marker the 402 miles down the A1 to White City for the Wood Lane Stakes. Unrated by White City punters, she flew home in a preparatory race, but was withdrawn from the first round of the competition with a knocked-up toe. Her intended heat was won by 15 lengths by Dante II who duly went unbeaten through the event.
1970 Sister tracks Hackney and Hendon are the latest tracks to introduce chromatography testing.
1963 The recently formed Greyhound Owners Association holds its first function at the Café Royal in London. A rival to the previously established BGBOA who stage the annual awards, the GOA’s dinner is sold out with 300 bookings. Its chairman is owner trainer Frank Sanderson, the owner of the Beaverwood Country Club.
2009 Walthamstow’s former owners association officially opens its Barley Greyhound Kennel, former base of trainer Mick Puzey.
1950 The NGRC annual report confirms that there are currently 77 racecourses operating under its rules. In an attempt to aid British breeding the club announce that the registration cost “for any greyhound other than a British bred” will rise from 10 shillings to 30 shillings (approx £40 today’s rate).
2001 Ladbrokes offering prices on the Scottish Derby make English Derby hero RABID RANGER, a 3-1 chance.
1968 Connections announce the retirement of Monalee Champion who broke a toe in his final stayers race at Harringay on March 18. He will join Jack Mullan in Newry for his stud career.
2009 Hull racegoers fear the worst when the track cuts back to one meeting per week.
1969 Following a string of complaints from British owners, Bord na gCon will offer a free information service advising of ‘most recent form’ recorded for any greyhound.
1997 British bred Thornfield Pride (Fearless Mustang-Thornfield Sophi) overturns hot favourite Elbony Rose to win the BBC TV Trophy. Yvonne Morris’ white and brindle was backed from 40-1 to 12-1 in the decider and reversed a near six length heat deficit to get home by a short head with Handy Score a further short head away.
Yvonne Morris with Thornfield Pride – pic Steve Nash
