1969 Representatives from Dundalk are speaking to the British racing press attempting to drum up support for a new event, an International, featuring three British and three Irish runners. Planned to be staged in August, it will be sponsored by tobacco firm PJ Carroll to promote their ‘Major Extra Size’ brand will carry a £350 first prize.
1961 Portsmouth trainer Hugo Spencer sends Hey There Merry to Carntyne to win the Scottish Derby. Handled by head girl Shirley Kelly, the dog arrived in Scotland on Monday and won his heat at 20-1 on the Tuesday. Lucky to qualify from the afternoon’s semi finals, he got home by a head in the final later the same evening.
1978 The Royal Commission on Gambling is a disappointment to the greyhound industry and recommends few of the industry requests. On the positive side, it does recommend allowing tracks to stage 10 races instead of eight and a relaxation on the number of available racedays. Among the negatives, the inevitable refusal of a levy. While apparently considering horse racing as an entirely different entity, the study noted: “while it cannot be more than a matter of judgement, we doubt that it would be widely accepted that there is a case for supporting greyhound racing in the national interest as an expression of national sporting and cultural identity.” It also refused the tracks proprietary rights over its results (ie copyright). The commission also refused to recommend the squashing of the bookmakers ‘five times admission’ law. It did proclaim that all independent runners should compete in stud book names. In hindsight, the greyhound industry could expect little from a review body which concluded that “greyhound racing was distinguished from other events largely because the meetings were promoted solely for the purpose of providing opportunities for betting. . .”
1946 A growing number of greyhounds cannot leave Ireland for Britain due to a strike by Dublin dockers who refuse to handle livestock.
1952 The national press launch a campaign to persuade Clapton to change the running off its Scurry Gold Cup first round. It is the only classic currently staged over two separate meetings (the English Derby first round, for 48 dogs, is run on one night). The first four heats of the Scurry first round are staged on a Saturday followed by another four heats the following Thursday. Unfortunately for dogs racing at the latter meeting, they are then asked to contest the second round just 48 hours later.
1934 July 4 At Richmond Dog Show on the Athletic Grounds, there are three classes for track and coursing greyhounds. Among those entered are the English Derby winner and runner-up, Davesland and Grey Raca. Neither of them wins but Grey Raca does get a reserve place in her class.
1953 Inland Revenue are taking GRA to court over unpaid tax. The cash is the revenue’s share of all uncollected tote winnings since the company was first set up in 1926. The unclaimed figure is currently around £219,000 (approx £7.5m at current rates)
1974 Wimbledon stage their last ever Produce Stakes and Champion Stakes. The events are cancelled due to the considerable paperwork involved in keeping track of the various stages of entry. Litters would be simultaneously entered for both events with the 500 yard Produce Stakes in May being followed by the 700 yard Champion Stakes in the autumn. The events were also not popular with local punters as the heats were usually uncompetitive, nor with the local owners who lost opportunities for graded dogs.
1992 Highly respected Northern Irish breeder Dan McCann dies aged 96.
1961 The NGRC admit that for the first time, they will allow races to be sponsored! It is a major step with massive implications so a limit of £750 is placed on any sponsored races, of which the owner cannot be paid more than £500 – to ensure “that no shine will be taken off the established classics’. A spokesman for the NGRS admits “We haven’t really considered bookmakers as potential sponsors. No approach has been made. But I don’t see any reason why Mr (William) Hill, for instance, should not sponsor a major greyhound race.”
2002 Nottingham change their open race prize money policy with 15 per cent automatically allocated to trainers. They also increase the winner’s prize from £150 to £200 and also-ran from £15 to £20.
1988 Hall Green trainer Alisa Goode, who took over the contract from her mother Pat, decides to give up the sport. She is replaced by Geoff De Mulder who is contracted to the track for the third time.
1974 Cowpark Yank became the first ever locally trained winner of Romford’s Essex Vase. The Terry Duggan trained dog had only been beaten once – by a short head in the semis – in his nine races at the stadium.
2007 Gary Matthews is appointed racing manager at Wimbledon following the departure of Derek Hope.
1989 The NGRC Calendar advertises the Tyneside St Ledger and Rye House Permit St Ledger. Clearly a book keeping error.
1941 The Scottish Derby is run off in one evening at Carntyne in two heats, with the first three in each to go forward to the final. Wimbledon trainer Joe Harrison takes up three of George Flintham’s greyhounds, Lights O’ London, Shorn and Keel Creamery. All three qualify from the 7.35 and 7.55 pm races ad line up for the final at 9.45, worth £300 and a trophy to the winner and £150 to second. Lights O’ London the even money favourite, trap 3, beats Shorn, trap 1 by three lengths in a time of 29.75 for the 525 yard race.
2006 Swindon racing manager Clive Oseman blames ‘the Savva effect’ for the low number of entries for the Produce Stakes. There was no need for a trial session to choose the 48 first round entries. Indeed, following further withdrawals, on 36 dogs went to traps for an event worth £15,000 to the winner. However, the caution seemed well placed when Westmead Joe went unbeaten through the stake – sister Westmead Olivia was second – and set a new 480 metre track record.
2007 The Irish Greyhound Board announce two major track projects. A new track at Limerick is to be built at a cost of €20m, and another at Kilkenny costing €8m. The Kilkenny track is due to open in January 2010 and the new Limerick five months later.
1981 Greenwood Robic is a fifth priced 1,150gns purchase at Shelbourne Sales. Within three months he is back in Dublin lifting the £6,000 Irish Puppy Deby.
1971 Thanks to added sponsorship, Wimbledon announce that the 1971 Laurels will be the most lucrative ever – worth £5,000 to the winner – the same prize as the Irish Derby. (Roughly £92,000 today).
2012 Ante post favourite Ballymac Eske is beaten in the first round of the Puppy Derby at 1-9f. He is then beaten at 4-6f in the semis and at 2-1 in the final. (He will then win his next eight in a row at 1-8f, 1-5f, 1-6f, 1-8f, 1-6f, 2-7f, 1-10f and 2-7f.)
1992 Popular Scottish agent Bobby Jack dies of a heart attack at Cork Sales aged 56.
1936 Wembley introduce the latest technical innovation, all-metal starting traps. They are made of tubular steel and aluminium, and it is hoped that they will “practically eliminate greyhounds slipping or bumping at the start. . “
2012 Ricky Holloway wins a landslide vote for the position as chairman of the Greyhound Trainers Association. He beats John Simpson by 181-61 votes. 250 votes were cast from the potential 394 voters. Holloway’s plans include a ‘group diesel deal’ from a leading oil company and a bulk feed deal from a pet food supplier. There will be a new sponsor in place for the Trainers Championship.
1981 Greenwood Robic is a fifth priced 1,150gns purchase at Shelbourne Sales. Within three months he is back in Dublin lifting the £6,000 Irish Puppy Derby.
2001 Bob Tovey, secretary of the Yeovil & Sherborne Coursing Club launches the first drag hare coursing club on a designated 18 acre site at Wickwar in south Gloucestershire.
2014 Sittingbourne are given a warning by the Gambling Commission over the weakness of its on-course betting market.
1952 West Ham kennel lads were treated to some East End heckling from the punters and bookies as they paraded their runners in smart new boaters. “Whatcher Maurice Chevalier” and “Here comes the blooming chorus line” chortled the Cockneys. However according to the Greyhound Express reporter “The lads carried on with a dignity that was pretty to watch.”
2008 Walthamstow host a benefit meeting in aid of local trainer Gary Baggs who is battling cancer. It raises around £70,000.
1946 Five bitches reach the final of Shelbourne Park’s prestigious McAlinden Gold Cup. It is won by the only dog in the field, Lemon Flash. Owned by Tom Lennon from Kilkenny, Flash had been withdrawn from the Shelbourne Sales two days previously but was withdrawn when bidding closed at 1,050gns.
2002 Pacific Mile is sold for a reputed ‘six figures’ to Aidan, Peter and Danny Comerford shortly after being beaten in the Red Mills Champion Unraced Final. Within a week he goes lame in the second round of the Cox Cup and never races again.
2007 The BGRB are inviting owners of ‘non-NGRC’ tracks to apply to test a new racing surface – Viscoride.
1988 Bristol trainer Mary Babe has her licence withdrawn indefinitely after stewards visited her Cardiff kennel and found neither the trainer or any of her BAGS runners present.
1992 The Greyhound Derby trophy will feature among 450 exhibits in the Sporting Glory exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is insured for £15,000.
1937 GRA commission leading artist Ward Blinks to paint a series of twenty five portraits of ‘greyhounds who have achieved fame on GRA tracks.”
2007 Hills reveal that they have five of the six Derby finalists as winners on their ante post book: Forest Scholes (£73K), Ullid Conor (£41,000), Dilemmas Flight (£50,000), Caulry Fast Trap (£44,000), Loyal Honcho (£6,000). Their only loser is. . .Westmead Lord (£28,000).
2013 A management team headed by Clive Feltham, sign management deals with NAMA/Galliard Homes to run the four tracks. The leases for Hall Green, Belle Vue and Perry Barr are believed to be for 15 years with a five year deal for Wimbledon.
1952 The degree to which GRA relied on ex service personnel can be gauged by the sudden death of ex Royal Naval Commander E T Fairlie. At the time of his death, the former naval officer was ‘assistant tote superintendent’ at West Ham.
2015 BGRF Chairman Tom Kelly announces that Fund income will continue to decline to below £7m for the year. Kelly has not been able to secure a deal with many of the largest betting companies with an additional complication that many big players are now trading from Gibraltar.
1978 Irish Derby winner Lively Band, sire of the previous year’s English Derby forecast (Balliniska Band and Linacre) is found dead in his crate at Heathrow Airport. The six year old was returning from Australia and was due to stand at stud in Ireland. He was insured.
1968 Yellow Printer (pictured with owner Pauline Wallis), the 525 yard track record holder at White City, adds the Shelbourne standard to his tally with a 28.83 run in the first round of the Irish Derby. The run is 16 spots inside the 13 year old track record held by Prince Of Bermuda.
