1957 At London White City the Springbok Trophy is won by Racing Max (Ballybeg Surprise-Racing Fool, Jun 54) trained at Hackney by R Boisley.
1978 Hackney’s management are fined £250 by the NGRC following a ‘green light/red light’ fiasco in the semi finals of the Winter Stayers Stakes. The race went off without apparent incident and was won by Ballybeg Lee. The green light was signalled and the bookies paid out. The judge’s box was then besieged by angry punters claiming that the traps had opened late. The management had a re-think and flashed up the ‘red light’ and ordered a re-run. Unfortunately, one of the original qualifiers went lame in the re-run and the final was reduced to five runners. The Hackney racing office blamed condensation on the windows of the judges box for their original decision.
2003 Gary Burridge, the popular husband of Poole trainer Jo, dies suddenly.
1994 Red Mills pull out of sponsoring the Produce Stakes at Clonmel. Spokesman Steve Clarke blames the failure of the local management to improve facilities as had been promised.
1962 Sallys Chat the top puppy of 1961 is found dead in trainer Tony Dennis’ kennel. Among his wins were in the Futurity, the Christmas Puppy Cup, the Futurity, the Yorkshire Puppy Derby and the North Of England Puppy Derby. The 12-1 third favourite for the English Derby died of enteritis.
1998 Former Bolton boss Bill Williams dies in hospital following a long illness. He was 64.
2006 Rye House closes when negotiations between promoter Sue Picton and the stadium owners over a new lease break down. Within 24 hours a second track closes when the NGRC suspend racing at Hull following the departure of promoter Gary Ince.
1999 Two of the last three tracks in Spain, Pabellon and Majorca close down much to the delight of welfare campaigners. Meridiana continues to trade.
2005 Droopys Marco heads the ante post betting for the Totesport Scottish Derby. The sponsors bet: 4-1 Droopys Marco, 5-1 Robbie De Niro, 8-1 Ballymac Niloc, Bell Devotion, 12-1 Farloe Verdict, 14-1 Ancient Title, Barefoot Maestro, Ballymac Kewell.
1976 The GRA Stakes final sees Westmead Satin (bd b Westmead Lane-Hacksaw, Aug 73) renew rivalry with Glin Bridge, who she had beaten twice before. Again Glin Bridge is made favourite at 10-11 with Westmead Satin second best at 6-5 – and again she beats Glin Bridge by a length in 44.06 for the 730 metre trip, winning £1,250 and challenge trophy for her owner H Katz and trainer Nick Savva.
1997 A crown court trial heard that an attempted betting coup at Catford using beta blockers, was a second attempt. The first, staged a month earlier, had been successful and netted a kennel hand in Arthur Boyce’s kennel over £5,000 in winnings. The second coup was only spotted when bookmakers noticed unusually high betting patterns. Three defendants are found guilty of attempting to defraud. Trainers Arthur Boyce and Sue Brown are sacked.
1972 Harry Lloyd resigns as racing manager at Rayleigh to take over as head of publicity. Tom Stanley is the new RM.
At home with the Chandlers – 1956
Charles Chandler snr
The following article was written about Charles Chandler senior in 1956. Privately owned Walthamstow was one of the fastest growing stadia in the post war era and the Chandlers, notably Charles’ wife Frances’ were among the country’s biggest owners. This is how the Walthamstow boss saw the future of the sport.
“Come in and make yourself at home,” said the man they call a millionaire. “Excuse me for a few minutes,” said his wife, “I must put the kettle on”.
I had arrived at High Warren in Essex, sumptuous yet homely home of the Chandlers.
Charles Chandler? They call him Mr Greyhound Racing at the ‘Stow. They say – right or wrong – that he is worth a million and they know him as Charlie.
His wife, Frances? An attractive, lively woman, mother of three. A well-known greyhound owner. Above all, a good housewife.
Charlie Chandler, for anybody who does not know, is Governing Director at Walthamstow Stadium.
To anybody connected with the sport he is Walthamstow Stadium.
Briefly … the Chandlers took over at the East London track in 1929 farmed everything back into the business for ten years – over £150,000 – and built the stadium that stands today. The outbreak of war in 1939 stopped further plans to extend the building operat-ions and it was in 1939 that Charles married Frances.
After the war, with money worth a lot less and restrictions placed on private building, Chandler decided that the best way to serve Walthamstow would be to plough the money back not in structural alterations, but in the purchase of top-class greyhounds, Walthamstow, which cost from £8,000 to £10,000.
From this it can be gathered that Charles Chandler has. Among his notable purchases in the late forties were Bigaroon (£2,000), Tobacconist (£2,500), Melampus (£1,500), Glittering Look (£1,500) and the two Loyals – Accomplist and Aristocrat.
In ten years he spent £150,000 on greyhounds, and since then replacement of mechanical equipment in the tote, the new hare and renovations have added up to something like £40,000 – without annual decorations at sunk a personal fortune into Walthamstow Stadium.
The value of the stadium is enormous. It is plain fact that Chandler turned down an offer from a financial syndicate in 1947 of £1,000,000 for a 51 per cent share.
These days he does not spend so much on buying greyhounds. He has set up his own breeding establishments, and at High Warren I saw some of the puppies that represent the future of the Chandlers in greyhound racing.
This is his story, but what of the man himself.
His disappointments. His successes? I said to him: “You do the talking …”
“I’ll be perfectly frank,” he said. “In greyhound racing there should be more co-operation. Co-operation between tracks on open race entries is not what it should be. We never see greyhounds from some of the London tracks at Walthamstow.
“Take ‘The Test’ at Walthamstow, for example. We sent out 250 circulars, struggled for entries and eventually had nine for a £500 race! Wembley produced six of them and we had to put nine in ourselves to make up the required 18 greyhounds. It is farcical – of the nine Walthamstow dogs only two were really worthy representatives.
“It is unbelievable the mount of canvassing that has to be done to fill a race. More co-operation would make it unnecessary. Then there is the business of accepting for an open race and running the same dog the night before on its own track. To my mind this is unfair on the greyhounds and unfair on the public.
“Where possible all greyhounds entered in open races – whatever the track – should from the public’s point of view have a trial on the track”.
He turned to a more personal disappointment – the fact that he has applied on numerous occasions for the Grand Prix at Walthamstow to be termed a classic.
“Look at it this way,” he said: “White City, which is undoubtedly the Mecca of greyhound racing, has the Derby; and the other five classics are the Gold Collar (Catford), Laurels (Wimbledon), Scurry Cup (Clapton), St Leger (Wembley) and Cesarewitch (West Ham).
“Yet Walthamstow, which returns the third largest attendance figures in the country for greyhound racing, cannot have a classic. It is not only disappointing to us, but also to the people who patronise the track”.
His successes? The fact that Walthamstow can now claim to draw the third biggest attendance in the country (he puts this down to the improved class of greyhound) and to see Walthamstow dogs competing for and winning so many open races elsewhere. There is one major success he is looking forward to – and that is Walthamstow’s first Derby winner.
“We have won every classic but the Derby and we hope to achieve it in 1957 with Grand Reject. I still think he is the fastest of Magourna Reject’s sons.”
Finally, Mr Chandler spoke of the future of greyhound racing. “One of the principal improvements,” he said, “is that the tracks are more or less becoming standardised from a running viewpoint.
“I would go as far as to say that certain aspects should be completely uniform; automatic starting traps and the hare.”
1978 The Newspaper Press Fund Gala Charity Meeting at London White City brings together most of the best greyhounds in training, and the highlight of the evening is the Daily Mirror Invitation Trophy over 500 metres, worth £400 plus trophy to the winner. R Bacci sends out his champion Balliniska Band (wbk d Lively Band-Central, May 75) – pictured – for his first race there since his track record victory the previous June. Up against him is St Leger winner Stormy Spirit, Grand Prix winner Paradise Spectre, Oaks winner Switch Off, Edinburgh Cup winner Linacre and Scurry Gold Cup winner Wired To Moon. Made 11-10 favourite Balliniska Band just holds off his litter brother Linacre by a neck in 30.02.
