1989 Hall Green unveil their new £1m refurb which includes the biggest restaurant at a British greyhound track with covers for 360 diners.
1958 A major court case appears before a judge at Bow Street in London. Four men and six women are accused of conspiracy to dope greyhounds. The six women are all employed as kennelhands at the Sunbury –On-Thames kennels used to supply runners for Charlton, Wandsworth and Park Royal. The women were found in possession of phenobarbitone and lists of greyhounds names.
1951 Wimbledon become the first track to introduce .08 to represent one length for a beaten greyhound. Everyone else will continue to use .06.
1965 Hack Up Chieftain, who had won the previous year’s English Derby at 20-1 started favourite to be the first hound to land the Irish equivalent. However the John Lacy trained unbeaten qualifier was never seen with a chance. The race went to Gay McKenna’s 5-1 shot Ballyowen Chief who beat the pacemaker Tanyard Chief by three lengths in 29.42 for Harolds Cross’s 525 yard.
1989 A Crayford punter selects Woolmac Raider (12-1), Coppins Lot (6-1) and Spiders Wish (Ev.f) in a £1 straight trio and collects a record £4,040. With inflation taken into account, that would be around £10,300 today.
1975 Tory Mor (Toms Pal-Melville Money) wins the fastest ever Edinburgh Cup Final. Paddy Milligan’s white bitch set a new track record of 27.67 in the decider, a time that would not be beaten until Princes Pal’s 27.58 twelve years later.
1948 The entire Wembley racing surface is re-turfed with 25,000 turves following the digging up of the human athletics course on which the Olympic Games athletics were staged. The first meeting after a seven week closure, will include the heats of a brand new competition sponsored by the NGRC, the Stewards Cup.
1965 In a bizarre piece of thinking, Hackney’s management decided to foil an apparent coup by pretending that their tote was broken. They came to that decision after over 4,000 of 5,000 units were placed on trap six. It emerged that traps one three and five had been heavily backed in betting shops, though mysteriously, there had also been substantial money for traps two and four. The farce took another strange turn when it was announced that the race would not be run ‘on the advice of the veterinary surgeon’. A subsequent police investigation showed that none of the dogs had been doped.
1976 Considered inept, NGRC senior steward Richard Stanley resigns in disgrace. It is only two months since his speech at the industry’s Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Dorchester Hotel in which he said: “One day we will have a more enlightened government that will allow betting shops to open in the evening. Racing must get more revenue and we must get more revenue for off-course betting.” Stanley is to be replaced by Major General James Majury.
1989 Waltham Abbey beats Fort Leader by two lengths in a match race over 640 metres at Walthamstow. Ernie Gaskin’s winner clocked 38.98, some 20 spots inside his own track record.
1963 A major fire sees Monmore Stadium virtually burnt to the ground. The fire, which appears to have started in the kitchens, destroys the main grandstand, tote room and the Midland Greyhound Racing Company offices which contain all the identity cards for the Monmore and Willenhall dogs. Thankfully the 200 dogs, whose kennels are less than 100 yards away, are unharmed.
