1964 A potential £1,000 match race between Leger winner Lucky Hi There and beaten favourite Failte Mal is scuppered when Fred Barrett, the owner of ‘Lucky’, says he will not participate for less than £5,000 per side.
1968 An English conman calling himself Sir Norman Nelson fraudulently passed cheques to the value of £2,950 when defrauding three Irish breeders of four open class greyhounds. It seems certain that the greyhounds will end up on independent tracks.
2012 Former Wembley bookie and leading owner Fred Honour dies at the age of 89. Most of Honour’s dog were trained by John Coleman and included Hypnotic Stag, Honour And Glory and Courier Kid.
2006 Tote and attendance figures for 2005 are released by the BGRB. Walthamstow, as expected finish top with a return of £10,257,795 from their 259 meetings. They also finish top on an meeting/average table with £39,605. They are followed by Belle Vue (£30K), Wimbledon (£28K), Peterborough (£24K), Romford (£21K), Hove and Hall Green (£20K) and Sheffield (£17K).
1993 Karl Ward is the new racing manager at Stainforth following the departure of Robert Lithgow. Ward is a former head lad to stadium GM Barbara Tompkins.
1968 Sheffield Corporation pledge an overdue investment of £30,000 in the Owlerton Stadium, originally purchased for £170,000 seven years earlier.
2000 Following the departure of Tom Smith, Swaffham owner Maurice Kirby expects the track to re-open imminently. . . .
1972 Natalie Savva sends out the first and third in the most competitive Cesarewitch Final ever at Belle Vue. Westmead Lane, who had spent three months off the track with a liver complaint, caught Albany Ranger with Westmead Tower in third in a neck-neck photo finish. All six runners finished within three lengths.
2014 The Wimbledon Park Residents Association commissions a planning report into the feasibility of building a 20,000 seater stadium which concludes that the site is unsuitable due to the planning risk. It also reminds Merton Council of its own 1996 report which states that the site is unsuitable due to traffic issues without the construction of a new tram system.
1948 The Oaks Final appears to be at the mercy of the year’s outstanding bitch Jersey Creamery, trained at Belle Vue by Len Stagg. Fastest in the Oaks heats and semis (29.05, 29.16) and going for a six-timer, the Manchester White City 485yd record holder goes to traps at 1-1f in the £500 White City final but misses her break and is then bumped at the first bend. The 4-1 winner is the Stan Biss trained Night Breeze (Mad Tanist-Charity Maid) in 29.19. Though not highly rated at the time, the black goes on to land the Pall Mall and finishes the year with £1,898 in prize money – index linked to around £64,750.
1988 After 25 years with William Hill, Mike Raper becomes the new public relations exec for GRA.
2006 Greyhound racing embarks on its first ever peak time national TV advertising campaign – anightatthedogs.com.
1990 Promoter Kevin Wilde is in negotiations with his landlords Ladbrokes with a view to buying the freehold at Brough Park.
1974 Watford become the first NGRC track to trial over metric distances. The switch is not due to take place until January, but GRA have began trial sessions around the Watford FC pitch and elected to make the switch immediately with distances of 410 and 615m.
1962 Derby runner-up Powerstown Prospect, who was lucky to scrape through to the final with two third places, is an 8-1 winner of the St. Leger for local handler Ronnie Melville.
2013 Farloe Tango, only four months from being crowned Greyhound of the Year is recorded as “not chasing” in a trial at Sheffield. He is returned at 4-1 when he wins a heat of the Great North Run just eight days later and 6-4f when he wins the final.
1953 Among the dogs at stud is Local Interprize (bk d Ruby Border-Mythical Daisy, Jan’46). He ran in countless finals, including eight classic finals, winning four of them. Standing at Pam Heasman’s kennels at Waltham Abbey, his modest fee is 25 guineas.
1997 Droopys Sandy, holder of the Dunmore 435 yard and Shawfield 500m records is exported to Australia.
1976 Switch Off (Westpark Mint-Kudas Pinch, Sep 74) is sold at Hackney sales for 600gns after winning her trial in 31.01. Transferred to Jimmy Singleton she wins £4,385 the following year following victories in the Oaks, William Hill Nationwide Championship and the Flying Five.
Switch Off is pictured with kennel girl – and future Wimbledon trainer, Mary Harding
