1996 Black Gem Charm, beaten in his first two graded races in A8 at Wimbledon, goes on a seven race winning spree culminating in a puppy open race. Within eight weeks, he had won the Puppy Derby.
1963 Mrs D Field of Stevenage scooped the Scurry Gold Cup jackpot after just two legs. In the first leg she had a 100-8 chance to beat the favourite. In the Scurry decider, she picked Lucky Joan II (3-1) to beat Orange Grove (25-1). With nobody still in the pool, the 50 year old grandmother collected £866/9/3 for her two bob ticket (8,663-1). Two nights later, a Hampsted postman becomes the first single winner of the Harringay quinella and collects £2,427 – roughly £49,000 in today’s money.
1957 Stewards allow Highway Tim to contest the final of the Key, just three nights after he is stolen and involved in a car accident. The Derby runner-up was one of three greyhounds stolen from the Walpole St Peter (Wisbech) kennel of Rosalie Beba. The three were found beside a wrecked van which had crashed into a dyke shortly after midnight. Highway Tim was found near the wreck uninjured. The other two were later found by police tracker dogs; one had lost a lot of blood. Police arrested Leslie George McCarthy of Watney Street, East London after he requested treatment for injuries at North Cambridgeshire Hospital. Highway Tim duly wins the Key Final by four and a half lengths.
1994 A drunken Walthamstow racegoers is dragged from the track after slumping across the hare rail prior to the final of the Circuit. The hare was actually in motion before the man could be removed.
1963 British breeding losing a respected breeder with the death of E D Hughes. A chemistry professor at London University, his runners carried the “Gower” prefix.
1946 Dunmore Park re-opens with a new hare driving control tower in the centre of the track.
1966 Tally Ho Sally, winner of the Coursing Oaks and sister of Newdown Heather, sets a new 575 yard track record at Thurles.
1948 Western Post (Lucky Post-Lonesome Sister, Feb 45) is a surprise 8-1 winner of the £500 Scottish Derby. Some 41 spots slower than the brilliant bitch Sheevaun (29.14) in the heats of the Carntyne classic, the three year old sneaks through a gap in the final when the Paddy Fortune trained 4-6f is run off the track by a wide runner in the final. Western Post clocks 29.45 in the 525 yard decider run two days later. Winning owner/trainer Fred Davis – later sent to prison for the Waggles/Red Wing ‘ringer’ case – then takes the dog to Dublin where he lands the same year’s Irish Derby Final.
2010 Blue Artisan and Kinda Easy are the ante post favourites for the two feature events at the William Hill Festival. The Classic ultimately goes to Craig Dawson’s Target Classic who was available at 33-1 at the start. Jimmy Wright’s England Expects lands the Grand Prix having been available at 6-1 on the night and 25-1 earlier.
1963 Dromin Glory, one time favourite for the English Derby but eliminated in the first round is withdrawn from the first round of the Welsh Derby in bizarre circumstances. The local stewards had been warned by the NGRC that Glory had recently trialled more than two pounds heavier than his most recent racing weight and would therefore require a further trial. A pre-meeting trial was hastily arranged to enable the dog to compete in the first round but he arrived late for kennelling.
1973 Local grader Easy Investment sets a new national record for 525 yards in Britain when covering Brighton’s 525 yards in 28.17 – nine spots faster than Super Rory’s previous best set at White City.
1989 English Derby winner Lartigue Note breaks a hock in a private trial in preparation for the Irish Derby. He is retired to stud.
1946 At a time when the English Derby is worth £1,000 to the winner, the independent track at Wombwell near Barnsley are staging a £3,000 Pitmans Derby. 25 entries are required at £100 each with £500 added prize money. Index linked to 2019 the final would be worth £41,000
2010 The Irish Greyhound Board announces deep prize money cuts with the lower grades suffering the most. While the grants for a top grade four-bend race will remain at €290, the bottom grade will fall from €270 to €160.
1964 GRA are planning to switch their management offices to newly created units at White City. They will then lease out their main head office in Berkeley Square. The company are still seeking planning permission for Charlton which is closed but remains derelict. Planning permission was also refused for West Ham which continues to trade.
1987 Hove racing manager Jim Layton introduces a new policy when he allows an ‘outside’ trainer to run dogs in graded races. The first, and only, new handler is the area’s top breeder Jane Hicks. Unfortunately her two runners are soon sidelined through injury and season.
