1994 A winding up order is issued against John Copplestone’s Walstone Construction company which had liabilities in excess of £1m caused by losses in the re-building of Hackney.
1992 Local Peterborough grader Henrys Carnation set a new 605m track record of 37.45 when winning by 11 lengths and finding 80 spots on his best previous run.
2003 GRA is fined £10,000 for racial discrimination against Catford employee Steve Hewitt.
1970 August 24 Veteran trainer Paddy McEllistrim, now 81 – who had his first English St Leger win with Loughnagare in 1929 does it again when Spotted Rory (Shanes Legacy-Dainty Flash) wins after a first bend pile up that leaves him 10 lengths clear at half way. Coming back to the field he wins by two lengths from strong-finishing Moordyke Monalee in 40.28.
1986 Toffee Al-Aali’s Lodge Prince, who set a track record of 28.34 for the 480 metres at Wimbledon during the Derby, has set another record. This time it is in the Consolation Final of the Champion Stakes over 550 yards (503 metres) at Shelbourne Park, when he skates up in 30.03. The final itself is won by Storm Villa (Aulton Villa-Storm Island) who came from Trap 6 misses the trouble at the first bend and has a solo run, coming home by seven lengths in a slower 30.45.
1933 August 23 R Thain’s Era Jem (Mountmahon Cutler-Dhoungonwall Collen), trained at Wimbledon by Joe Harmon, is going through a purple patch, winning six hurdle races in a row. It culminates in a national record when he wins the Mandrake Hurdles over 500 yards at Stamford Bridge in 28.64.
2000 Mick Smith, the owner and trainer of the brilliant Blue Murlen collapsed and dies of a heart attack prior to racing at Rye House.
1986 Joe May, Racing Manager at Middlesbrough, breaks a leg while out jogging and has to have a plate and seven screws inserted into the leg, just above the ankle. He will be sidelined for at least two months. Meanwhile back at the office, they’ve called Vic Abbott, who retired four years ago as General Manager, to step back into the racing manager’s job as cover until May returns.
2003 An accident in the paddock at John Mullins’ kennel sees the death of two open racers, Crosty View and Woodbrook Jo.
1967 Ballybunion track is running really fast this summer, with no fewer than eight new track records set at the Kerry venue. The best is over 525 yards hurdles on August 9, when Jerrys Memory knocks 29 spots off the record in 30.65. But on August 23, Charleston (Buffalo Bill-Shells Magic) lowers it still further by another 11 spots to 30.54.
1993 Robert Lithgow, formerly at Stainforth and Shawfield is the new racing manager at Sunderland. The new man at Stainforth will be Karl Ward.
1955 At Harolds Cross the final of the Irish Derby over 525 yards is a triumph for owner Tim O’Connor and trainer Tom Lynch when their Spanish Battleship (Spanish Chesnut-Ballyseedy Memory, Aug 51) completes a unique Derby treble. The 5-4 favourite wins by 3 lengths from 7-4 second chance, Crostys Bell in 29.53.
2000 Ladbrokes announce that they are ready to webcast live racing. They narrowly beat the GRA-backed 24dogs.com which is about to launch.
1994 Agent Imelda Phelan is fined £IR900 for registering six litters of pups with wrong whelping dates.
2004 The NGRC admit that nandrolone can be detected in bitches for upto 100 days after it was administered. They had previously claimed that the drug, widely used as a season suppressant, would break down after 28 days and had fined dozens of trainers on that basis. None of the fines were ever repaid. During one of those inquiries, a trainer told the stewards: “It says in the Greyhound Star that this drug can stay in the system for several months.” She was told by senior steward John Nicholson: “You don’t want to believe everything you read in a stupid newspaper.”
1983 August 13 The first running of the Friends Of British Breeding Puppy Championship final, worth £10,000 to the winner, goes to Dilys Steel’s Glatton Grange (Mulcair Rocket-Pencil Slim), trained locally by Ken Linzell. The Sep 81 puppy wins the three rounds to the final at odds on, and is again a very short price when taking the 475 metre final by 1 3/4 lengths in 28.93. The victory came only 17 days after the brindle had won the £7,000 Breeders Forum Produce Stakes (pictured above) at Harringay. Caption: Dilys (centre) collects the Produce trophy from Oliver Turner, Keeper of the Stud Book. Also in pic (l-r) Sue Derham, Richard Devenish, Ken Linzell
