2010 Sheffield trainer Carol Evans has her licence suspended by the GBGB following information it has received from Betfair regarding ‘unusual betting patterns.’ In an inquiry the following month, she is fined £300 and her licence is returned. Kennelhand Neil Holmes is fined £5,000 and has his licence is suspended for 12 months for laying dogs in his care on Betfair. It doesn’t end there though when Mrs Evans is subsequently sacked by Shefield.
1993 Trainer Linda Mullins sets a record when sending out her 100th open race winner of the year by May 29 – pic Steve Nash
1985 The phenomenon that is Scurlogue Champ bursts to national attention as he wins a heat of the BBC TV Trophy at Monmore. Ken Peckham’s black came from a distant last place to win by 13 lengths in 51.80, some 59 spots inside the 815 metre track record. He then takes a further 16 spots off the course best with a nine length win in the final. Trainer and dog are subsequently invited to the TV studios for an interview with ‘the most talked about dog since Mick The Miller’.
1970 Three years after winning the BBC TV Trophy, Spectre II wins the event again – as a sire. Yorkshire bred Hi Diddle, who was from his sire’s first ever litter, was a 10-1 shot when winning the Manchester White City decider for trainer Pam Heasman and owner Michael Wilson of Rotherham.
1975 New Irish arrival Flip Your Top (Own Pride-Whittle Off) breaks two of the country’s most prized track records in his first two races in Britain. On his debut he set a new Brighton 500 metre best of 29.26. Next time out he clocked a record for Wimbledon’s 460 metres of 27.55. Following the race, owner trainer Bob Young confesses that he had previously backed the pup at 200-1 to win the forthcoming English Derby.
1964 Paddy Dunphy, famous for his ‘The Grand’ prefix landed another major title when his Mothel Chief won the Produce Stakes by six lengths for Clonmel’s 525 yards.
1993 Mildenhall report a triple dead-heat in a graded race. The fourth dog was beaten a neck.
1985 HM Customs at Fishguard are impounding Irish entries for the English Derby until they complete paperwork and pay VAT on their dogs, even though the dogs will return to Ireland within weeks. At that stage, connections must then complete more forms before waiting many more weeks to have the tax refunded.
1968 Robert Adeane, joint owner of Derby favourite and White City track record holder Yellow Printer, is asked why he took the dog off trainer Paddy Keane, who originally spotted the dog in Ireland and purchased him for £1,500. He replies: “I have the greatest regard for Paddy, who is a fantastic person, but we have this Irish temperament and every so often we erupt like volcanos, have a blazing row, and then become friends again.” Printer, who was an evens favourite to win the Derby, scrapes though his first round and is KO’d and fails to finish in the second round.
1965 A Wimbledon punter couldn’t decide what to back in the second leg of a forecast double pool. As he stood in front of the tote window dithering, the tote clerk and supervisor urgently pressed him to make a decision. The last dog went into the trap. He finally went for ‘4-3’ as the automatic cut-off shut down the power to the window. The result came in ‘4-3’ and he missed the jackpot pay-out of £683 (around £13,200 at today’s value). What’s more, because he didn’t place the bet, he wasn’t entitled to the consolation dividend of £16 13s.
2009 Boherbradda Mac is retired after receiving one of the most serious of all muscle injuries – a ruptured gracilis. Mac is trained by Harry Sinatra Williams – famous for his comebacks after retirement – and so does Mac four months later!
1947 White City announce that the English Derby will be restricted to 36 runners, all of which will be selected by racing manager Percy Brown.
1947 Bookies were so unimpressed by the chance of newcomer Tampa in a race at Charlton that they refused to give it a starting price. He duly won with one newspaper taking it on itself to return the dog as a 20-1 chance.
1947 Perry Barr introduce a new ‘trackless’ hare called the McWhirter.
1947 GRA announce profits of £340,000 in 1946 having paid income and entertainment tax of £1,648,000. Just take those figures in for a moment. Index linked, it would be the equivalent of the company making a profit of £81.9m but being forced to hand over £67.7m of it in tax.
