2000 Catford racing manager Phil Donaldson joins the reporting team on the Racing Post. His position is taken by assistant Derek Hope. Meanwhile Crayford’s Paul Lawrence resigns from his role as Crayford racing manager “to pursue other business interests”. His position is taken by his assistant Harry Bull.
1965 Walthamstow’s 25 year old Charles Chandler joins the board of rival company GRA but retains his role at his home track.
1995 8-1 ante post favourite Kens Dilemma completed an amazing double for trainer Theo Mentzis when landing the Wendy Fair St Leger. The 39.80 winner beat Dinan Wonder by half a length. Her Buckinghamshire handler, who also had Andronikos in the decider, had won the English Derby with Moaning Lad just five months earlier.
1976 Ballinderry Moth wins arguably the best English Oaks Final ever staged. The Barney O’Connor trained fawn, who will also win the Golden Sprint and Pall Mall, beats Paradise Peg in 28.60 for Harringay’s 475 metres. Moth will go on to produce a string of open race stars and top broods such as Over The River, Swift Rapier, Daleys Gold, Ballinderry Sand (dam of Ballinderry Ash and Greenane Slippy), Westpark Goldie (dam of Hot Sauce Yankee) and Derry Linda (dam of Tico). The runner-up is exported to Australia and throws Queensland Greyhound of the Year, Final Dream. Third placed Ka Boom goes on to become a double Brood Bitch of the Year with offspring including Special Account and Decoy Boom. Fourth placed Isle of Thanet will later be the dam of English Oak winner Thanet Princess. Fifth placed Ballybeg Seven (a sister of Ka Boom) is the only failure at stud with sixth placed Lucky Arrival, who also won the Bass Cup, eventually throwing St Leger winner Easy And Slow and stud dog Cathys Fugitive. The final could have been even better. Narrowly beaten into fourth place in the semi finals was Kings Comet, later to throw triple Scurry Gold Cup ands Scurry winner Yankee Express.
2000 The racing press are speculating that the recent rash of Metocam positives is evidence that the Newmarket laboratories have developed a technique for the detection of the pain killer. Gary Baggs’s Grand Prix finalist Little Diane and Patsy Byrne’s Laurels finalist Brickfireld Bonus. A week later Nick Savva is fined £2,000 for five positives all for the tonic Heptaminol. It is the first time a Savva runner has ever tested positive for any drug.
1946 The home and kennel of leading greyhound breeder and journalist H Montague-Harrison is raided by Food Enforcement Officers who claimed that he had obtained bread from the baker beyond the amount allowed on his ration card. They searched the premises and examined the books of his supplying baker but found no incriminating evidence. Montague-Harrison goes public with the information and seeks a meeting with Food Minister John Strachey over Government rationing policy for greyhounds. He demands that “a pound and a quarter of bred or similar substance” should be allowed for each racing greyhound. He states: “Malnutrition is affecting the health of greyhounds. They are becoming victim to sickness and disease, now more prevalent among greyhounds than any other breed.” The writer also notes that the Government allows a food ration for “the rich man’s sporting animal” with one breeding establishment alone, there is an estimate loss to mice of one ton of bread and one ton of oats (“the cereal that even the housewife cannot obtain for her children”) each week. Meanwhile greyhound racing provides more revenue for the Treasury than every other sporting activity combined.
1963 The NGRC reveal that drugs tests carried out on several dogs due to contest races at Romford and Dagenham on Bank Holiday Monday were found to be positive. Staff were concerned by the appearance of the dogs who were withdrawn without racing. The Club reveal that three runners withdrawn from a Wandsworth meeting were also found to be doped. Inquiries by the track authorities and Police CID had failed to make any progress.
1975 Olive Turner becomes the first female Secretary of the National Coursing Club when she succeeds the retiring Tom Ball. She has four staff.
1987 Wimbledon trainer Eric Pateman hands in his notice blaming financial reasons.
1963 Leeds are the 1963 News Of The World National Intertrack Champions after beating Brighton in the final. They had narrowly beaten Bristol and Wimbledon in the first two rounds – each match had ended in a points tie but the Yorkshire track progressed as they had supplied the winner of each race. In the semis they beat Stamford Bridge. The Leeds tote could not cope with six runners (regular five runner races), so only four went to traps for the final – two for each track. Leeds’ Greenane Venture was the 2-5f but finished third behind kennelmate and 6-1 outsider Galbally Gallop.
1950 Kennelmen at the Hackney Wick and Hendon Stadiums withdraw their labour at 2.30pm on Friday afternoon and refuse to resume their duties again on until 11am on Saturday.
1975 Trials have got underway at Britain’s newest independent track at Bedford. The new venture, on the site of Bedford Town FC will be run by Harry Garvaux. Within the same week, Henlow, just 14 miles away, are in discussions with the NGRC over joining its new permit scheme.
1966 Wimbledon’s newsletter recalls the time, many years earlier, when the track experimented with handicapping runners by adding weights to their racing jackets. The letter reports: “The tests were not sufficiently thorough to reach any conclusion. There was difficulty in maintaining even displacement of the weights without the jackets slipping. Perhaps weights could be used for handicapping in greyhound racing but many may share Wimbledon’s view that the most interesting racing is the kind that provides competition among greyhounds of equal ability.”
2000 Four times champion trainer Linda Mullins wins the event she prizes even above the English Derby when Palace Issue runs away with the St Leger Final at Wembley. The son of Deerpark Jim and Clear Issue was also bred by the former Wembley kennelgirl who announces that she will not renew her trainer’s licence in 2001.
St Leger winner PALACE ISSUE and connections – (L-R) Owner Carol Williams, trainer Linda Mullins and sons Ricky and John. pic Steve Nash
