2001 Kinsley welcome the Australian cricket team midway through the Ashes campaign. A good night is had by all with Shane Warne picking two winners from three bets with all winnings going to charity.
1980 Ebro dog track in the USA reports a ‘perfect’ finish of traps 1 through to 8 in correct order. The odds of it occurring 40,320-1 and it is seven years since it last occurred.
1960 Two of the dogs who reached the Irish Derby Final, eventual winner Perrys Apple and Kilmoney Tulip are entered for the sales at the track the following Wednesday. Perrys fails to reach his reserve of £2,000.
1998 Millstream Lad breaks Rush For Silver’s eight year old Shelbourne 750 clock when winning in 42.04.
2012 Ballymac Vic heads the betting for the Irish Derby being best priced at 10-1. He is followed by Sparta Maestro and Droopys Cain (12-1), Droopys Jet (14-1), Confident Rankin (16-1) and ultimate winner Skywalker Puma (20-1).
1952 The NGRC announce rule 71a, that greyhounds entered for official trials, open or graded races, shall be weighted and any greyhound with a weight variation of more than 2lb, from their previous, shall be withdrawn.
2012 Leading Irish trainer Matt Travers has died following a lengthy illness. A winner of the Irish Derby with Penny County, his other stars included Jelly Crock, Princes Pal and Pulse Rate.
1946 Steve, disqualified in an open at Wembley and since returned to Ireland, is a 6-1 winner of the Irish Derby Final at Shelbourne Park. He is trained by greyhound agent Harry O’Neill. Favourite for the final had been Baytown Ivy, widely acknowledged as the best bitch in Ireland.
2018 A study on this website reveals that in the first six months of the year, there was an 18% reduction in open races, mainly attributable to the media rights battle with ARC/GMG and SIS. That shortage is also feeding through to open racing. For the first time ever, the Ladbrokes Gold Cup is undersubscribed with only 30 entries. Crayford only attract 18 for the 36 runner, £7,500 to winner Kent St.Leger.
1997 Swindon re-opens after a three week closure to relay a new racing circuit. The new wider circuit, some 18 inches higher than the previous track, has a new plastic inside running rail and a Swaffham hare to replace the Sumner. The new distances will be 460m and 480m to replace the 476m.
1997 Veteran promoter and NGRC steward Dan McCormick retires from the industry when he steps down from a consultancy role at Oxford.
1952 BBC Television’s play on Friday is The Gay Dog. It is about greyhound racing and stars Wilfred Pickles.
2003 In a historic meeting brokered by Star editor Floyd Amphlett, the League Against Cruel Sports hold talks with the BGRB. Both sides describe discussions as ‘very encouraging’
1934 The Laurels semi finals at Wimbledon are held on separate days. The first sees only three runners go to traps and is won by English Derby winner Davesland who starts at 4-11f and beats Brilliant Bob in a new Wimbledon 500 yard track record of 28.32. The re-run of the second semi goes to 28.68 winner Bellas Brother. The reason for the re-run was the sensational disqualification for fighting of the top Irish coursing star, Scurry Gold Cup winner and previous record holder Creamery Border. The final will eventually go to 7-1 chance Brilliant Bob.
2013 Former Walthamstow trainer Graham Sharp dies aged 81.
1972 Dundalk International worth £1000 to winner (£16,800 today) – is the most lucrative one-off ever staged. It is won by Time Up Please in 29.60 from British entry Super Rory.
1948 August 7 The Olympic final over 600 yards at Wandsworth with a first prize of £100 plus £100 silver trophy goes to F Legg’s Captain Lake (w f d Caption Brown-Bann Lane, Feb’46) trained at Wembley by Jack Harvey, by a length and a half in 35.09.
1980 Forward thinking Crayford are the only NGRC track who waive entry fees for their opens. Under NGRC rules they are part of entry conditions, so the Kent track charge a token £2 in their entry conditions but don’t deduct it.
2002 Football Focus, a lowly H2 grader at Catford becomes a posthumous symbol for welfare after his death in the stadium kennels. The dilapidated kennel block is shut down by stipendiary steward Irene McNally. Focus’ death leads to a strongly worded open letter from 10 leading open race trainers condemning Britian’s promoters for putting profits before safety. It leads to a complete industry review of racing kennels and air management systems.
1964 An ambitious young trainer called Geoff de Mulder took out his professional licence after two years as assistant to his father Joe. Geoff inherited a number of fast dogs, including Cahara Jet and Cahara Rover.
1961 Private trainer Phil Rees takes over the Clapton range of Dave Barker.
1972 Former Wembley open racer Catsrock Daisy breaks a toe in the final of the Irish Derby but hangs on by a neck to win for trainer Gay McKenna. Daisy is the fourth bitch to win Ireland’s premier classic.
2002 GRA offer to review the scheduling of the 2003 Gold Collar following a complaint from owner Harry Findlay. The ’02 scheduling means the runners have to compete four times in nine days (three times in five days) over the 555 metre course.
1935 August 24th Mr I Collins beige dog Creamery Border who won the Scurry Gold Cup at Clapton in 1933, and was runner up in the 1934 final is still running well though nearly five years old. The October ’30 whelp by Birder Line-Cook, makes light of his veteran status by taking the final of the Chelsea Cup over 500 yards at Stamford Bridge. What’s more, he sets a national track record of 28.01 when flying from the traps and leading all the way. The 3-1 second favourite won by nine lengths, and Wembley trainer, A Callanan and the owner were presented with the £100 and trophy by Miss Peggy O’Neill, famous music hall star and heroine of the popular song “Peg O My Heart”.
1982 Vicki Holloway’s range is so powerful that Oxford are unable to find dogs to compete against the best four in the kennel – so they are allowed to compete in their own four-runner A1 race. Derby quarter finalist The Mill Prince (27.20 personal best) is made the 11-10f but finishes out of the frame behind Giglis Glen (2-1) who beat Minnesota Pixie (7-2) in his fastest time ever over the trip, 27.23. Three weeks later Pixie won the National Sprint at Harringay, while the fourth member of the quartet, Synone Polly, would shortly finish runner-up in the English Oaks.
1961 Frank Rowe, the Aldridges auctioner reckoned to have sold more than 40,000 greyhounds in his 32 years with the company, dies in hospital. Among the memorable bargains sold at the sales were Laurels winner April Burglar (150gns), Grand National winner Rule The Roost, and Waterloo Cup winner Noted Sunlight who was sold as a sapling.
1954 Labourers Royce Warmby of Huthwaite and Thomas Maddock of Blidworth are each fined £5 with 10 shillings costs for stealing a young bitch from the Old Clipstone kennel of Joe Booth. Police had found the bitch in a backyard shed at Maddock’s house but she had been dyed black using potash and black dye.
1972 There was a point to prove for Nick Savva when the owners of Derby finalist Proud Life publically objected to the British bred dog being nominated for the Select Stakes in preference to their own runner. As it transpired, Proud Life was invited to run as a reserve but did not take part as the Westmead hound beat Micks Pride in 29.23 for Wembley’s 525 yards. County moves up to no.4 in the prize money table behind Patricia’s Hope, Bally Lander and Deneholme Chief.
1946 Lilacs Luck makes an amazing appearance in a graded sweepstake at home track Doncaster. The dog, who is owned by the stadium but leased to Mr A Allnatt, recently finished second in the English Derby having already won the 1945 Irish equivalent at Harolds Cross.
1949 New track record holder Ballymac Ball (28.04) becomes the first greyhound to break 28.00 for Wimbledon’s 500 yards when winning a Laurels semi final by 12 lengths in 27.99. He duly wins the final.
1953 A first doping case involving greyhounds and an experimental new drug from the USA, Cortisol, reaches Coventry Police Court. The case concerns three men, currently bailed, for conspiring induce a kennelboy to dope a dog at Coventry greyhound track. According to the kennel lad’s testimony, he was given a cortisone tablet to give to a dog but vomited it with soda crystals 15 minutes later. Home Office Pathologist Professor JM Webstar confirmed that it would have been unable to detect the drug by a vomit test. The dog had won by 11 lengths and found 96 spots on its previous race. Cortisol is still being used experimentally in hospitals, mainly for rheumatism but was suspected of being used in some high profile horse dopings the previous year. In 1952, the Irish Government made the drug prescription only. Prior to that, it had been on sale at £7 for 40 tablets.
