A special bonus this week. In addition to the regular monthly recollections and tales which can be found further down the page, we are delighted to include a special piece written by former Champion Trainer John Coleman.
The Cork man, who celebrates his 87th birthday this year, was one of the most respected handlers at Romford (2 spells), Wembley and Walthamstow during an illustrious career during which he was also Chairman of the Greyhound Trainers Association. These memories though, go all the way back to 1959.
John Coleman
My arrival in England in 1959 coincided with the careers of two of the most famous greyhounds in the history of the sport Pigalle Wonder winner of the 1958 Derby at White City in which Mile Bush Pride finished third and won the Derby the following year in 1959,and both are still spoken about to day by those of us who were lucky enough to see them race.
My mission coming from Ireland was to find work as a kennel hand and I had a reference from a man in Cork who had dogs in training with Paddy Gordon at Hackney Wick.
On the next Saturday I made my way to the track to meet Paddy who explained to me that the stadium employed the staff and the wages were five pounds a week less the cost of a national insurance stamp.
As I had already found lodgings in Roman Road in Bow for the same amount, I knew I could not afford to take the job and I looked for employment outside the sport. I got a job in the offices of McDougals flour millers in Millwall Docks owned by the Rank Organisation at eleven pounds a week which enabled me to go racing six times a week at one of the sixteen tracks operating in London, mainly at Clapton, West Ham, Harringay, White City, and Stamford Bridge.
During this period of 1959/1960 I saw al lot of the race of both greyhounds, especially those of Mile Bush Pride winning the Derby as the even money favourite. Other significant wins included the Cesarewitch at West Ham at 2/7, the Pall Mall at Harringay at 1/5, the Scottish Derby at Carntyne at odds of 2/7 and the Select Stakes at Wembley at 2/5. He is also the only dog to have contested three English Derby Finals: 1958, 1959 & 1960.
1959 Owner Noel Purvis parades Derby winner Mile Bush Pride in front of a Derby crowd of 41,000.
During my short stay at McDougals from January 1960 I had a tip for a horse called Martial. He was due to run in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in the month of May that year trained in Ireland by Paddy Prendergast and ridden by Australian Ron Hutchinson, In the run up to the race I had a total of 30 pounds on him ante post. He duly won the the race at odds of 18/1 which gave me a return of £570 the equivalent of £13,700 to day.
I then moved from the East End to the West End bought an Austin Mini van for £200 and rented an apartment in Oakley Street Chelsea. I then set my mind to having another attempt at getting a job with greyhounds.
I answered an advert for a vacancy at Wembley in the Greyhound Express and got an interview. On the appointed day and time I parked my van outside the kennels and made my way to the racing office.
Meeting the racing manager Jack Tetlow on the way and I saw him have a long look at my van. The first question he asked me was ‘is that your van?’
The second was to know where I lived. That was when I realised what he was thinking ‘not exactly the profile you would expect from someone applying for a job as a kennel hand’ It goes without saying I never got the job.
Some twelve years later I got a call from Jack Tetlow when I was a trainer at Romford telling me if I wished to make application for a Trainers job it was very likely to be successful. It was. I often wondered if he knew I was the same person who he refused a kennel hand licence all those years previously. But I never asked.
Mile Bush Pride was trained by Jack Harvey throughout his career at Wembley and when I took over from him in 1973 we had dinner together and he presented me with the trophy for “Best Racing Greyhound of the Year 1959” photo of which is attached.
After all these years and trophies I have won myself it remains my favourite item of memorabilia, a lasting memory of the good old days.
REMEMBER WHEN
1997 Tom Smith is installing new Swaffham hare systems at Waterford and Tralee with Shelbourne to follow a month later.
1987 Attached trainers: Belle Vue: Ray Andrews, Ron Barber, Leo Branagh, Michael Compton, Len Hutton, Pat McCombe, Nigel Saunders, Frank Watson
2014 Ladbrokes announce they are to sponsor the Scottish Derby with an increased winner’s prize of £17,500.
1997 Newly licensed trainer Seamus Cahill has his first winner when his second runner Kelva Flash wins at Catford.
1956 Advertised by Peter Wasley kennel Accessories: Racing muzzles 7s (35p), Box muzzle 8s (40p), leads 8s (40p), collars 3s (17.5p), fishtail collars 5s (25p), waterproof macs 22s6d (£1.12.5p), Set racing jackets 75s (£3.75).
2015 GBGB Change their Articles Of Association to allow for a trainers representative on the board of directors. It will go to GTA Chairman Ricky Holloway. There is currently only one ‘practitioner’ role held by owners representative John Haynes. Unfortunately, the chairman’s seat remains unoccupied following Maurice Watkins’ decision to step down.
2010 The GWA announce that their 2010 award for Services to Greyhound Racing has been posthumously awarded to former GBGB director Stuart Locke-Hart.
1956 The Irish Coursing Club will not be publishing a stud book for the fourth consecutive year. Their British equivalent have published every year, including wartime, since 1882.
1987 Attached trainers: Romford: John Coleman, Peter Payne, Tony Dennis, Dave Oswald, Paddy Coughlan, Ted Griffin
1956 Aldridges stage their first sale of the year. There were 87 race dogs who made £2,429 plus seven unnamed pups. That puts the average cost of the racing dogs at £27.90 and the pups at £15. Allowing for inflation, that calculates to £817 and £438. Top lot – Handsome Ballymac was sold for 175gns – (£5,365)
2015 Bubbly Tornado, the next expensive purchase of the Champagne Syndicate is disqualified for fighting in his seventh outing. Re-schooled, he returns to racing and receives his ‘second yellow’ two runs later.
1969 Wimbledon handlers top the voting for the 1968 Trainer of the Year award. It goes to Phil Rees who just gets the nod from Paddy McEvoy.
2014 GRA’s senior racing manager Bob Rowe retires at the end of the month. In a Racing Post article with Jim Cremin he recalls visiting the Knowle greyhound track in 1948 as a five year old. Bob secured his first racing manager’s job at Coventry in 1963. He joined GRA and after a spell in the West Ham racing office took his next RM job at Hall Green in 1970. Three years later he was rewarded with the no.1 job in the industry at London White City. Asked to list his ‘Ten of the Best’ Rowe reels off – in no particular order: Balliniska Band, Ballyregan Bob, Cash For Dan, Gorey Airways, Myrtown, Sherrys Prince, Toms The Best, Westmead Hawk, Westpark Mustard and Yellow Printer. The current biggest issue? ‘Trainers trying to make ends meet. That’s not easy when they own a third or even 40% of their graded runners.”
1956 Scottish bookmaker Jim Donald has announced the first open race at his new track Ashfield. It will be worth £400 to the winner (equiv of £11,680 today). Donald won his case in court to open the venue after six churches and 300 local businesses objected.
2015 Hall Green receive 25 entries for the Prestige – with not a wide seed among them.
Owner Pauline O’Donnell with her Harringay and White City track record breaker Yellow Printer. He was one of the top ten hounds selected by Bob Rowe
