1996 Newly opened Sittingbourne offer a lifeline to trainers at Ramsgate which closed earlier in the month by putting on three inter-tracks. The plan is vetoed by the NGRC “because Ramsgate is no longer a licenced track”. All Ramsgate runners must run three qualifying trials before they will be allowed to race.
1996 Formerly at Hackney, Paul Illingworth is to become assistant racing manager at Romford from April 1. Trainer David Mullins will be another new arrival at London Road after handing in his notice at Oxford.
1996 Crayford’s longest standing bookie Tony Morris receives a gold clock to mark his 50 years at the Kent venue.- Pic Steve Nash
1998 Crayford and Milton Keynes both stage greyhound sales on the same day. Crayford is the busiest with 40 of the 53 lots sold. Top lot Maireads Bob is sold to Mick Parker for 2,500gns. He goes on to win several opens and break the Stainforth middle distance track record.
1987 Fred Underhill, secretary of the NGRC from 1962-1988 receives an OBE
1947 A former track employee, now a sergeant in the RAF, is found guilty of doping two dogs with Luminol at Ramsgate stadium. He is fined £10 and claims, “I am very sorry, I was not doing this for myself, but for someone else.”
1961 White City take possession of two 30 feet long luxury dog transporters. Each of the six cylinder Bedford lorries can carry 50 dogs and 10 kennel staff and costs £3,000.
1998 Twilite Review moves into second place on the USA’s most prolific runners list when turning out for the 341st occasion. He is now only nine wins behind record holder JMC Shenandoah
1996 Geoff De Mulder gives his verdict on recently opened Sittingbourne: “It is marvellous but it is a bit off the beaten track to be a really big earner.”
1974 Mrs H A Kirwan’s Myrtown, winner at a Manchester White City by Eddie Moore, makes it four wins in the month, when he goes unbeaten at London White City. His task is made all the easier by being the only seeded railer, but he does not have things all his own way at the first bend Tam Silver moves to the rails, forcing Myrtown to check slightly. They race down the backstraight, neck and neck, where Myrtown – the 8-11 favourite – draws away to win by 1 1/2 lengths in 28.68 for the 525 yards race.
2002 Harry Williams refuses to take Pond Imogen to Belle Vue when she is the only one – and least fancied of his three entries to be accepted for the Gorton Cup.
1997 Dunmore attracted a crowd of 3,000 patrons for its final meeting. Following the closure, the ICC allows Ballyskeagh to transfer its meetings to Tuesday and Saturday.
1987 Racing manager are keen to beef up controls on greyhound sales as confirmed in their annual conference. The RMs want to see all sales promoters licenced and additional regulations on greyhound agents. They also recommend the introduction of random sampling and compulsory booster inoculations in cases where there are doubts about authenticity of existing paperwork. They are told that the NGRC have refused to raise the threshold of fines at local inquiries to £500 as previously requested. The Club have agreed to double the current tariff from £100 to £200. There will be on-going discussions on whether to include the last three lines of Irish form on the racecards for new imports of whether the lines should show, the best three lines of form. Other decisions: Yarmouth are to be allowed to carry out an experiment in letting trainers bring their own bedding for racing kennels. The new type of plastic coated racing muzzles are given the thumbs-down (because of possible difficulties interpreting photo finishes!). There should be a general easing out of consolation finals – excluding classics – and where they are held, the winner’s prize should be no higher than the ‘also’ ran money in the main event. A new registration fee is to be introduced for syndicated greyhounds (maximum 10 owners) of £100.
1998 Wembley (GRA) report an increase in profits at their American tracks of Lincoln Rhode Island and Colorado of almost 10% in 1997. Almost all the growth is due to the growth in casino business at the two tracks. Since 1993, profits on the American venture have risen from £3.1m to £15.4m.
1932 There are currently six London tracks racing during March. Wimbledon are one of four tracks racing on Wednesdays – though they are well spread out around the Capital at Wembley in the west, Harringay in the north and West Ham in the east of the city. The Plough Lane track also race every Friday and Saturday. Each Wimbledon card is for seven races, quite often to include two four-runner hurdle events. A top heat hurdle event pays £15 to the winner – equivalent at today’s values of £885.
1996 Oxford receive 82 entries for the 48-runner Pall Mall. Corporal Kevin is the 8-1 ante post favourite though the final will be won by 10-1 chance Highview Pet.
1983 Cradley Heath trainer Ken Reynolds reveals that Pelham Mons Hill, who has won three of his last five races at the track, is completely deaf.
1966 Longford track seemed unlikely to re-open following its winter break when its owner, Thomas Packenham, the heir of Lord Longford, refuses to renew the lease. However, he relents and the site is sold to Longford Sports Ltd, a group of local enthusiasts who then apply to Bord na gCon for funds to purchase a tote.
1997 Broadacres Lad is a fortunate winner of the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket – albeit he won the Crayford race on merit for trainer Terry Dartnall in 46.08 (-20). Lad’s luck came as a youngster being taken for schooling at Bob Young’s Cosmic track in Ashdown Forest. He slipped his lead and spent 10 days running wild, regularly criss-crossing the busy A22.
Deenside Pretty (T3) leads off the final bend from eventual winner Broadacres Lad (T1) followed by El Tenor (T5) and Elbony Rose (T2) – pic Steve Nash
