1946 The greyhound press reports that a major outbreak of distemper is being hidden by kennel owners who are too embarrassed to admit that they have had the disease in their kennel. However a study of breeding figures provides a few clues. In 1941 there were 431 British litters registered of which roughly five per litter lived long enough to be named. The following year saw an increase in litters born, up to 561, though only 1793 pups survived to the naming stage – roughly one in three. The Irish mortality rates are virtually identical.
1966 Catford announce that their Produce Stakes will now boast the biggest prize of any puppy, or British bred event with £400 to the winner.
1980 Knockrour Slave is acclaimed as one of the greatest ever hounds to have graced Cork’s Western Road track when winning his second Irish Laurels final by six lengths in a new 525 yard track record of 29.00.
1957 “A motor coach stolen in full view of several onlookers from the carpark outside the front entrance to Monmore Green Stadium, Wolverhampton on Thursday, was found last night in Birmingham.”
1990 Current NGRC leading open race winners 16: Ravage Again, Trans Mercedes, 15: Chicita Banana, 14: Gizmo Pasha, Gullen Whisper.
1948 Former Walthamstow trainer Mrs Kay Gander begins her new job, in charge of Pets Corner at Chessington Zoo
1966 GRA announce that their recent investments include £200,000 (around £3m in today’s rates) in a company developing golf ranges and par three golf courses.
2011 Richard Rees’ 25-1 shot Victoria Falls wins the Primus Telecom Grand National at Wimbledon. The ‘given away’ former Oxford and Coventry A1 runner, got home by a short head from Clonkeen Theo in 29.80 for the 480 metre hurdle course. Ten days later the first two met again in an H2 graded race where Theo won by five in 29.43. The win was the second for the family in the event, Richard’s dad Philip won with Lemon Chip in 1989, putting them both one ahead of grandfather Phil, a rare blank for the multi classic winning handler.
1983 Quick Suzy (Shamrock Sailor-Quick Deposit) narrowly won arguably the best Dundalk race ever. In a blanket finish, the Irish Oaks winner held on by a short head from Oaks runner up Mams Bank who dead heated for second with Scurry winner Yankee Express. Future English Derby winner Whisper Wishes was a neck away in fourth, just a head in front of Brideview Sailor. Game Ball completed the field.
1996 America’s newest track, the Shoreline Star in Connecticut, looks to be going out of business within a year of opening. Despite its proximity to New York State, the track has losses of $33m and assets of only $22m.
1966 Horse racing finally follows the lead of the dogs by granting a trainer’s licence to a *woman. Greyhound racing had never had a gender ban. (*Although not greyhound related, the lady in question Rosemart Lomax was an interesting character being married to Engand cricketer Ian Lomax, and was future mother-in-law of motor racing world champion James Hunt).
1952 The following article appeared in an unidentified newspaper article in 1952. It will be of particular interest to former Hall Green regulars.
Hall Green Greyhound Racing Stadium has on its staff four trainers whose combined length of service with the Greyhound Racing Association, including time spent in H.M. Forces and other national services, amounts to 98 years.
This record has no counterpart in the provinces and probably not in the whole of the country. The trainers are Roger Harris, Cliff Ogden, Wally Hancox and George Parry, all of whom have spent the greater part of their lives in the service of greyhound racing. Roger Harris born and bred in Warwick, began his career in 1927 at the White City, London, being seconded to several tracks before getting his first training appointment at Harringay in 1932. He came to Hall Green in a similar capacity in 1936, went back to London for 12 months, and then returned to the Birmingham track where he has since stayed. Comparing modern racing with the former days, he said: “Tracks have greatly improved throughout the country and, of course, so have the times. The breeding of greyhounds is on a better plane, too. In the early days the dogs were bred primarily for coursing, but now they are bred almost exclusively for racing and are getting better with each generation. Roger does not think a dog reaches his peak, until it is two years old, nine months are they are eligible to run in public. “The hardest job in training a greyhound is to make them follow the hare,” he said The dogs love to run but are apt to race between themselves unless trained properly. That is the reason why dogs are muzzled during races – not because they are vicious, but in the excitement they may bite the dog running alongside.” Yorkshire-born Cliff Ogden, began his association with the G.R.A. in 1927 at Belle Vue, Manchester, moving to Hall Green in 1933. Except for a three months spell at Harringay, he has been at York Road since. Cliff thinks that the sport was at its peak shortly before the war. “This sport is now rapidly approaching its pre-war standards but I find rather alarming the lack of ‘genuine’ dogs; the dog with high breeding. Greyhound racing is more of a working man’s sport than ever before. Consequently there are more dogs owner, but on a smaller scale.” Third member of the long-serving quartet is Wally Hancox, who has been associated with dogs since he became a member of the staff of private kennels when he was 15. Wally agreed with his colleagues that the best performances are given by two to three-year-olds and regarding the decline in the number of owners of large strings he said: “Whereas in former days an owner would have a string of 15, the exception rather than the rule these days is about four.” To complete the “team” is George Parry, a farmer’s son from |Cheshire, who left coursing to join Kings Heath on its inception in 1928, and after several other appointments came to Hall Green in 1943.
He believes that the training of greyhounds is a good career for a young lad if he is prepared to make sacrifices and to have an inborn love for dogs.
So there they are – four men whose skill, collated over years of experience, do much to ensure an enjoyable meeting.
1957 British bred Derby winner Ford Spartan was retired to stud after winning the Laurels Final at 2-7f. In only 14 months of racing, Spartan had also won the Wimbledon Puppy Derby and Select Stakes. The black son of Polonius had one of the most bizarre backgrounds. His dam Harrow Glamour had been retired as a pet in Woodford Green until a change in council regulations forced her owner to part with her. She eventually ended up with an East Grinsted farmer who decided to ignore advice that Glamour was too slow for breeding. He arrived too late for a mating to his first choice Magourna Reject, who was already booked, so decided to use another of Charles Chandler’s stud dogs Polonius. The litter was reared by a caterer based near Brentwood – and the rest is history. .
