1980 Nottingham are forced to cancel several race meetings due a runner shortage. Racing manager Jim Woods only has 80 dogs on the graded strength. The problem has been brought about by a change in the law which enables tracks to stage 10 race meetings instead of eight, combined with the arrival of the summer racing schedule. Meanwhile Romford also struggling to stage three meetings per week. Racing manager Jim Simpson reports that he currently has 130 dogs available but needs 180.
1947 GRA announce profits of £340,000 in 1946 having paid income and entertainment tax of £1,648,000. The comparative figures today are £17.4m and £84.5m
1993 Paul Garland switches contracts from Oxford to Ramsgate. Jim Reynolds lands a contract at Crayford being another 64 applicants according to track boss Stephen Rea. Racing office staff on the move, Mick Smith, assistant at Wimbledon is the new RM at Wembley, Hall Green racing manager Simon Harris goes to Wimbledon and Gary Woodward departs Bristol for Hall Green. Woodward is succeeded at Bristol by assistant Dave Lawrance.
2003 Racing Post’s Muttley gives his view on a significant sporting decision. “So the choice for the 2012 Olympics is either New York, Paris, Rio, or, er Hackney. The old dog track at the Wick, is to be the new Olympic Stadium. If there’s ever been a more obvious case of collective insanity, which is afflicting supporters of this ludicrous scheme, Muttley would love to hear of it.”
1936 A press report states that “Wembley kennelboys have to rise at 6am these mornings to crop dandelions and stinging nettles from fields surrounding the stadium. These weeds are valuable food for greyhounds containing properties excellent for cooling blood with the temperatures rising.”
1983 Following a string of complaints from British owners, Bord na gCon make a rare banning order against an agent forbidding him from attending any race or coursing meetings or greyhound sales. Nor will he be allowed to register any greyhounds. He is the Rev. JB Richford from Manse in Tralee.
1956 Veteran trainer Charlie Ashley’s retirement is marked with a inter-track in his name. Originally based at Belle Vue Manchester from 1929, he won the Northern Flat Championship in 1930 with Doumergue. He moved to White City and won the first ever Wood Lane Stakes with Disorder. Transferred to Harringay, Charlie won the first Pall Mall with Shove Ha’penny and the 1940 replacement English Derby with GR Archduke. He was also the first English trainer to win the Irish Grand National (Cowboy II). Other well known Ashley hounds included Orlucks Luck, and Ataxy. Ashley’s position at Harringay is to be taken by New Cross handler Joe Pickering.
1947 There is mixed demand at auction for the sporting relics of the late Duke Of Lonsdale. They include a ‘mixed collection of stuffed animals including a greyhound.”
1993 Trainer Ken Linzell and the Romford management are each fined £500 after Puppy Oaks winner Gailys Magic ran in an A5 race instead of her kennelmate Bit Of Problem. LInzell had chosen to swap the racing kennels of the two bitches but had not requested permission to do so. Local layer Mel Attreed reported bets of £700-£200 and £3,000-£1,000 about the winner.
1927 May 23 The first track in Sheffield opens at Darnall. It is built around the Wellington cricket ground in Poole Road. Many city councillors are present to witness the new sport, which goes off without a hitch in front a crowd estimated at between five and six thousand spectators. The first race worth £10 to winner and £5 to the runner-up over 500 yards, goes to Mr J Smith’s Mission (Royal Dictator – Out Of Time). The 3-1 joint second favourite leads at the first bend, and wins by 2 lengths in a time of 28 and 2/3 seconds.
1983 Following a string of complaints from British owners, Bord na gCon make a rare banning order against an agent forbidding him from attending any race or coursing meetings or greyhound sales. Nor will he be allowed to register any greyhounds. He is the Rev. JB Richford from Manse in Tralee.
1936 The local greyhound stadium wins the first prize in the ‘open tableau’ category of the South Shields Charity Carnvial. The float depicts a replica of the ‘lightning’ totalisator board, a piece of turf topped by a hurdle and four greyhounds “under the charge of a smartly uniformed kennelman.”
1985 Top independent star Blue Max (Knockrour Brandy – Miss Wish) is retired to stud. His race career shows 37 wins from 44 races and £27,000 in prize money.
1947 A truce is called between Britain’s top owner-trainer Fred Trevellion and Catford. Two years earlier, the Kent based haulier fell out with the track management and withdrew his graded runners from the kennels. Since then, Catford have refused all ‘Trevs’ entries in open races and the Produce Stakes.
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.
2003 GRA announce that they have purchased Perry Barr for £4.2m. They intend to invest heavily in the stadium which takes their tally to seven. Within a month, they cease Monday and Tuesday meetings and dismiss 15 trainers however prize money is increased.
1994 Owner John Munro Smith is warned off following an incident at Hackney. Smith claimed that the hare had been slowed causing his runner Ballyard Giggs to be beaten. He ordered that his other runners, both trained by John McGee be withdrawn from later in the card. He threatened various people with violence, including the vet and general manager Stephen Rea, if the dogs weren’t handed over to him. He then drove to McGee’s kennel where violence broke out and police were called. Munro Smith then loaded his 10 greyhounds, several un-muzzled into his Land Rover which drove off. Before doing so, a fight broke out and one dog was badly bitten. It is a bad week for trainer McGee. A few days later his Mercedes is sprayed with paint stripper.
1975 Wide seed Pineapple Grand is forced to run from trap one in the Laurels Final at Wimbledon. The Cearns owned track refuse to seed runners in graded or open races but it didn’t stop Frank Baldwin’s fawn getting home by half a length from Flip Your Top in front of a crowd of 5,887 paying customers.
1943 May In wartime when most of the classics are suspended, many others carry on unaffected. At Wembley the Gold Cup run over the St Leger distance of 700 yards, and always seen as a useful guide to the September classic, draws a class field including Mrs R Joseph’s Maidens Champion (Inler Iris – Maidens Beach) trained at Wimbledon by Paddy McEllistrim, he wins his heat from trap 4 at 4/5. He easily takes the final on the 29th as the 11-10 favourite.
1976 May 29 Although setting a new track record for the 470 metres at Bristol a week earlier, Countryman (Monalee Champion-Nurses Dilemma, Sep 73) starts a generous 6-5 to win the £1,000 first prize in the Golden Crest. Running from an unfavourable Trap 3 draw, the wide runner takes bumps at the halfway and three-quarters marks. But his superior track craft sees him finish ver well to win by 2 3/4 lengths in 28.78. Three days later, the dog owned by Mrs D Gaskin and Mrs M Arnold and trained by John Coleman at Wembley, wins Derby trial No 14 at London White City in 30.07. In trials No 8 and 17, Tipperary trainer Ger McKenna sees his Shamrock Point and Ballybeg Prim scorch home in 29.20 and 29.38 respectively. They are promptly made joint favourites to win the Derby outright.
1980 Eric Pateman, the former head lad to John Coleman, has joined the Wimbledon training strength. His head lad will be former Wimbledon legend Phil Rees.
1962 The Variety Club of Great Britain hold a major charity event at White City with three races screened live by ITV. Among the ‘fun and games’, are performances and personal appearances among the punters from stars such as Sid James, Bud Flanagan, Bruce Forsyth, Kenneth and Beryyl Reid. Six celebs are invited to give nominations to leading open race stars. Actress Liz Frazer (she of the ‘Carry On’ films) is so excited about her nomination for The Grand Canal that she had travelled to Heathrow to meet the dog on his arrival from Ireland. However, he is beaten by Chieftains Guest (nominated by Peter Wilson) and trained by Phil Rees, who is then installed as the 7-1 Derby favourite. 18,000 attended the meeting and £10K was raised for good causes
2011 Sunderland stage a puppy open that they would rather forget. It is won by 14-1 chance Highview Rumble with the remainder of the field all failing to finish. Two of the field were by Australian sire, Crash!
1947 One of the main topics under discussion in the greyhound press concerns the introduction of owners colours – much as in horse racing. The idea would not be to interfere with trap colours on racing jackets, but to have special paraders coats and parade coats for dogs after they had won a trophy.
2010 Wimbledon stage the earliest ever Derby Final on May 29. It is early due to the forthcoming World Cup. It is also the first Derby Final restricted by ticket admission with a limit of 3,000.
1980 The NGRC showed rare lateral thinking when one of the five qualifying heats of the Midland Grand Prix was declared void due to a broken hare. The original plan was for all five heat winners to contest the final, but with only two days before the final, there was no time for a run-off. With only two runners declared fit from the void race, the stewards gave Leicester racing manager Mick Wheble permission to extend the final to six runners including both runners from the void heat. The result was unaffected with the first two places going to heat winners Dodford Bill and Westmead Prince.
1972 May 26, The largest and probably the best running track in the country, West Ham, holds its last meeting. The track had the fastest 700 yard course in the country, because greyhounds had only five bends to go round, the race starting just round the fourth bend. The never-to-be-beaten track record of 38.61 was set that last night by A A Thompson’s Commutering (bd d Dusty Trail-No Mabel, Sep 69) trained by Frank Melville at Harringay. The 4-5 favourite from trap 3 beat Clohast Rebel from trap 1 by 4 3/4 lengths. Incidentally, Clohast Rebel’s time was .07 spots inside the old track record. In an earlier race over 550 yards Pepino (wf d Pools Punter-Morning Brandy, Jun 69) skated home in 30.21 just .04 outside Come On Wonder’s record. Charlie Smoothy, who trained Pepino at Clapton, was a kennel lad at West Ham’s very first meeting way back in 1928. The other never-to-be-beaten track records were: 550 yards hurdles Sherrys Prince 30.89; 600 yards flat Cals Pick 32.72; 880 yards flat Spotted Nice 49.55; 1112 yards flat Lucky Five 64.85. The last race is won by Troilus trap 5, a 3-1 chance trained by Irene McNally, over 550 yards in 30.96. The Cesarewitch is transferred to Belle Vue over 880 yards.
1964 A betting coup was successfully landed at Park Royal though the perpetrators were left sweating over its success. The gamble took place on the first race at the afternoon meeting and followed a large amount of money bet on five runners in the race – all bets to be returned to tote odds. By lunchtime the bookies smelt a rat and declined all further bets. Then things took an interesting turn. The only dog who had not been backed was withdrawn ‘overweight’. The management then ordered that a reserve should take his place. Around £400 was placed on the reserve on the track tote. That runner soon accounted for around 4,000 of the 5,000 tote tickets on the race. The race was duly staged and was won by a 9-2 chance, though thanks to the tote manipulation, the off-course layers were forced to pay out at 22-1. The dog who could have destroyed the whole scheme had he won, the reserve, finished fourth. It is unknown how much the gang netted.
1971 Breachs Buzzard (Maryville Hi- Breachs Blizzard), bred by Judy Pattinson from Rutland, proves himself the top stayer in training when breaking the Walthamstow 700 yard track record before landing the Grand Prix Final.
1958 Robert M Burtt, editor of the USA’s Greyhound Racing Record, raises a few hackles when he describes English greyhounds as ‘inferior’ to their American counterparts. In the first of a series of articles in Greyhound Express (The headline read ‘Are They All Pigs?’), he backs up his argument by reviewing a string of hounds who failed miserably in the States. They include former British track record breaker Hurry Ivan, who spent some time in the US and even set a 495 yard clock at Raynham. However, Burtt points out that the distance is no longer used, except for ‘training.’ The English dog did not stay the 550 yards, failed to reach the Raynham Derby Final and only finished third in the consolation final. Irish and Welsh Derby winner Western Post, imported at the same time, ended up running Grade B at Raynham. Trevs Perfection, winner of the English, Irish and Scottish Derbys was also unimpressive “at no time did he meet an American greyhound recognised to be in the United States top ten that year.” (He was four years old and at the end of his career-Ed). Cesarewitch winner Scoutbush also proved ordinary, finding his level in B Grade. However, the American journalist confirmed that a cheaper import and kennelmate of Scoutbush, Port Watch, had risen through the grades to become one of the top greyhounds at West Flagler. While accepting that the English dogs had struggled to adapt, he suggested they were ‘soft’ in being unable to adapt to the American feeding regime. Burtt’s views were immediately challenged by a clearly irritated Leslie Reynolds. The five times English Derby winning trainer recalled his first visit to the USA for the1950 Taunton Raynham American Derby. He had taken three greyhounds, Northern Star, Narrogar Ann and Greenwood Tanist. Aware that his greyhounds had never raced on sand, Reynolds had taken them to gallop on the beach at Formby, near Southport where he exercised his Waterloo Cup runners. However, on seeing the track at Taunton, Reynolds was dismayed. He says: “When I saw the sand surface and later walked on it I nearly had a fit. I realised that I had been misinformed and instead of soft sand, which was the surface I had been told they were racing on, and which I had trained them on at Formby, I found the sand was packed nearly as hard as a macadam road.” Reynolds fears were justified as Northern Star went lame, Narrogar Ann came in season, leaving on the third string, Greenwood Tanist. After leading eight lengths in his heat, Tanist was caught but qualified for the second round. He finished very sore and Reynolds bought a heat lamp and liniment and set about treating the dog who duly won his second round heat by eight lengths. Reynolds runner was hampered in the semi finals, and his trainer stated: “in my opinion, and in the opinion many good judges at Raynham, he would have finished second in the final” (in a race won in ’50 and ’51 by the great American star Real Huntsman). “In my opinion, there were quite a few dogs running in England better than Greenwood Tanist, and it goes to show that our best dogs must have a fair chance of beating the American dogs. With regard to soft feeding not being suitable for racing greyhounds, how is it that the few dogs we have already sent to the States have not improved half a second after two or three months of their ‘superior’ hard or drier feed – or perhaps ‘pigs’ don’t thrive on that diet?”
2005 Wimbledon report a total of 195 entries for the ’05 Derby, one more than the previous year. The eventual finalists (with ante post prices) are Blonde Mac (300), Ningbo Jack (33), Blue Majestic (100), Westmead Hawk (50), Mineola Farloe (50), Geldrops Touch (33).
1957 One of the greatest British bred dogs of all time, Trevs Perfection, is put to sleep aged 13 at GRA’s veterinary hospital at Northaw. Bred in Ealing and originally named Motts Regret, the dog looked no more than an improving open racer when purchased by successful owner Fred Trevellion for between £700-£800 in 1946. The main reason for the purchase was Trevellion’s plan to find an heir to sire Trevs Despatch who was then nine years old. However, under his new name, Perfection won the 1946 Gold Collar and circuit, and became the first ever winner of the Triple Crown – the English, Welsh and Scottish Derbys. He was retired to stud later that year. In 1951, Trevellion sold all his greyhounds and went to live in the USA. Perfection was purchased by GRA and was a successful sire within their breeding program.
