1965 GRA introduce restrictions on owners visiting their dogs at their Northaw Kennels on Sunday morning. Owners must now sign a visitors book, not before 11am but the dogs must be back in their kennels by midday. On the first Sunday of its introduction, a traffic jam stretched the length of the entrance road to the kennels.
2011 The GBGB announce that they have secured another £1m in prize money from the BGRF and that it will be spent on a new series of competitions for all grades, the ‘Owners Bonus Sweepstakes’. Each track will stage 26 events.
1992 Former leading independent trainer Jimmy Gibson is appoint as a contract trainer at Belle Vue..
1957 Wembley racegoers are shocked when Harringay track record holder Rathmore Rainbow takes a tumble in the first round of the St Leger and dies of a fractured skull.
1993 A massive gamble in a graded race at Wimbledon came unstuck when the punted hound finished third in an A9. Ardcool Gold had been backed from 5-1 to 4-5f.
2009 Rob Morton, son of the stadium’s joint owner Bob, becomes the new assistant general manager at Henlow.
1963 Connections of Irish star Drumahiskey Venture are leaving nothing to chance in his preparation for the forthcoming Anglo-Irish competition. The big black is flown to London on Friday morning, taken by fast car to White City for a trial (he clocked 29.08 for the 525 yards). He then returns in similar manner and is back in Dublin by early afternoon.
1991 John Coleman’s Sathern Lady was just three spots slower than the fastest time of the night when winning a heat of the Irish Derby at Shelbourne. Just 24 hours earlier, she had won the £10,000 Tennets Extra Final over 500m at Sheffield.
2000 Prolific open racer Kit Kat Kid is put to sleep after being badly injured in a race at Sheffield.
1972 Bord na gCon’s annual report for 1971 reveals that there were roughly 10 dogs exported to Britain for every dog sold to the USA, the figures were 5,398-522. The average price for a greyhound sold to Britain rose by 16% compared to the previous year to a figure of £189 – which equates to around £2,215 at current rates.
1959 The truly remarkable Gosforth grader Wine Steward is retired as a pet after finishing lame on August 18. He was whelped in June 1950 and he has completed 508 races for 118 wins and 105 seconds.
2011 Belle Vue’s owners raise the prize money for the track to be able to stage the Northern Flat.
1969 The Scottish Derby is cancelled due to lack of entries. Carntyne received only 14 entries for the 48-runner event which was due to carry a winner’s prize of £1,000. Plans to make the event a one-off for £100 were also cancelled due to lack of entries.
1965 GRA are vacating their head office in Berkeley Square. The building will be sold and the company’s admin will be transferred to White City.
1992 BAGS reveal that 16 tracks have applied for contracts for 1993, including all ten current holders.
1946 Aldridge Sales reveal that the average price paid for a sapling (6-16 months of age) in the previous six months was 72gns (roughly £2,650).
1996 Around 30 young greyhounds are sold at a show and sapling sale at Thurles. Around 120 youngsters are brought along to the Thurles event which is organised by the IGB’s Ruth Rogers and breeder Sarah Mangan.
2009 Struggling Coventry lose their appeal to the GBGB over their prize money grant. The track saw their allocation reduced from £3.50 from £6 after reducing their prize money.
1965 New legislation currently before legislators in Victoria will allow tote bets to be struck off-course. The practice is already in operation in New South Wales.
1953 Irish Leger winner Gortaleen is exported to the USA to contest the American Derby.
1962 Beaverwood Kennels proprioter Frank Sanderson’s Tuturama completes his domination of the Laurels with an impressive win in the final. The 4-6f is seeking a six-timer in the £1,000 Wimbledon decider and is never headed in the decider.
1992 Mildenhall, closed for two months after going bust, re-opens with a new promoter, Denis Diffley.
1967 More and more tracks are switching from sand to grass surfaces. Bristol are the latest NGRC track to announce plans to do so, independent Bletchley have just completed the circuit. However dog owners at independent Chesterfield threaten to boycott the track in promoter Albert Mowbray continues with his plan to swap to sand.
2010 Rayvin Giovanni is made the 20-1 favourite for the 2011 William Hill Derby after winning the Puppy Derby final at Wimbledon in 28.38.
1958 London businessman Harold Greenwood buys the year’s most expensive purchase True Picture for £2,500 (£44K in today’s money).
1963 A White City punter scooped a record quinella jackpot of £2,600 (roughly £40,800 at today’s rates) for a two shilling stake.
2007 Tony Meek returns to Hall Green following the departure of Julie McHale.
1968 Clapton trainer Paddy Keane buys recently retired Irish Cesarewitch winner Silver Hope (Clonalvy Pride-Millie Hawthorn) for £2,500 (index linked to roughly £37K). The brother of Yanka Boy is destined to die when prematurely at the age of seven by which time he had thrown two of the fastest dogs on the their era, Lively Band and Patricia’s Hope.
1992 Nick Savva reluctantly agrees to stay on after his resignation from the NGRC Tracks Standards Committee is declined by chairman Frank Melville. Savva states that the committee could not even reach agreement on a collective approach.
1960 117 greyhounds were offered for sale at the August Aldridge Sale. The top lot was the 300 guinea Ulster Beauty. 28 lots were unsold.
1967 Greyhound racing staged around the outside of the football bitch at Clacton FC has saved the club from going into administration. The venue attracts regular crowds of 700 and plans are in place to build a permanent stadium in the town.
1972 Ballykilty breaks the most prestigious track record in Irish racing with a 28.80 run for 525 yards at Shelbourne Park. He beat the previous record of Yellow Printer by three spots. Only one other dog, Prince Of Bermuda, has ever broken 29.00 at the Dublin track.
1967 An eagle-eyed Wembley punter spotted that two graded runners were parading in the wrong jackets. He told a pressman who phoned the judges box. The jackets were then swapped behind the starting traps following an announcement over the PA though neither dog subsequently finished in the frame.
2004 The Irish Derby, for so long a restricted entry event, received a record 162 entries. Eventual winner Like A Shot is widely available at 50-1 ante post.
1968 Breeder/trainer Jim Morgan landed the 1-2-3 in the Bristol Produce Stakes with three members of a Crazy Society/Hiver Swanky litter.
1956 In a novel idea, punters who have witnessed the heats of the Northern St Leger at Brough Park get three chances to verify qualifying form. The 700 yard final goes to Joe Booth’s privately trained Black Envoy. The 9-4 favourite leads on the run-in, wins by a neck in 41.08. There is also a consolation final for greyhounds that finished third and fourth in the heats. It is won by Booth’s other runner Silver Chief in 41.23. Lastly, the final for dogs who finished fifth and sixth in the heats goes to Jack Harvey’s Paracelsus in 41.27.
1965 Toms Dog becomes one of the smallest big race winners for many years when he lands the Ulster St Leger Final. The 59lbs (26.7kg) dog leads home the 61lb bitch Yellow Streak by a neck.
2009 As the GBGB announces plans to introduce microchipping from 2010, Aussie breeder Alan Wheeler demonstrates the ease of cheating the system. He removes and swaps the chips from two pups and then invites New South Wales stewards to verify what he has done.
1972 A race named in honour of Harolds Cross 330 track record holder Toms Pal was won by Drom Pride – in a new track record of 18.40.
1967 Oxford trainer Henry Kibble appealed twice to the NGRC over what he saw was unfair treatment by Oxford Stadium over a time finding case. The track had fined him £20. Kibble appealed over the size of the fine and the fact that the enquiry had been prejudiced against him. The NGRC dismissed both claims and ordered that Kibble forfeit the £20 inquiry fee.
