1974 The £10,000 Irish Derby Final at Shelbourne Park includes Lively Band, who won the English consolation final, in trap 1, and Myrtown, who finished second to Jimsun in the English Derby final, in trap 6, Lively Band wins the race in fine style by 2½ lengths from Wind Jammer, trap 3 with Myrtown, involved in first bend crowding, finishing third.
1988 Clonmel announce that they will only race once a week during July and August due to a bookmaker shortage. The layers would rather stand at the horserace meetings at Powerstown Park – which is operated by the Irish Coursing Club. The track is downgraded to ‘B’ status for its prize money.
1964 A ground breaking rule change is about to be passed by the NGRC. It will allow racing managers to choose the traps for all runners in graded races. At present, they are allowed to choose the traps for wide seeds, but must draw the remainder. The plan receives a mixed response with many owners writing to the press with concerns over the additional powers being given to racing managers.
2010 William Hill’s high profile PR executive David Hood leaves the company, stating that he is seeking new challenges.
1967 East Anglian owner trainer Jack Lambert buys Rathinch Valley, already qualified for Shelbourne’s McAlinden Gold Cup for 700 guineas at Shelbourne sales and then gets £500 back when the dog wins the final.
2007 Gary Matthews is appointed racing manager at Wimbledon following the departure of Derek Hope.
1971 A ground breaking month for racecourse promoters as the Betting Gaming & Lotteries Amendment Act comes into force. From now on, tracks are free to race throughout the year excluding Christmas Day, Good Friday, and all Sundays. Until now, race dates were determined by local authorities. Furthermore, all tracks under the same licensing authority had to race on identical nights. However – despite the furore, most tracks do not alter their fixtures. Walthamstow’s Charles Chandler jnr states that the track will continue to race twice a week and adds: “We will hold an additional meeting on Bank Holliday Monday, but we have no plans for the rest of the year and will wait and see how things develop.”
1995 The Ladbroke owned Valley Grehound Park in Texas is not expected to re-open when its season ends in September. It is expected to have lost $3m since the start of the year.
1957 Mr A Sharp recovers most of his 325gns sales purchase price on his debut for the Dundalk 500 yard record holder Pointers Prince. Running as a reserve in the heats of the Scurry Gold Cup, Prince lands a gamble of £300-£15 placed by his owner.
2010 Hovex Brandy avoids a race wrecking attempt in the heats of the Corn Cuchulainn at Harolds Cross. A sack was thrown onto the track after the dog had passed. He went on to win by eight lengths and after studying the video, the stewards determined that no other dogs had been affected and thus allowed the result to stand.
1967 The opening of betting shops, from which no betting tax is deducted (track punters pay 2.5%) sees attendances continue to fall. Figures for the first six months of the year show a 10% decline.
1998 No More Dogs might have lived up to his name in a Hove open when he was disqualified for fighting.
2002 GRA do not share racing manager Tony Killingbeck’s sense of humour after he gives unusual titles to a series of forthcoming minor opens the ‘Memo Man Maiden’, ‘Send A Memo Bob Stakes, the ‘Unpenalised Winner’ stake and the ‘We Upgrade Them Hurdle’. Taxi for Mr Killingbeck.
1975 A new independent track opens at Brean in Somerset.
1959 Racing journalists question whether July 4 set a record for records with no less than six track records were broken on the same night on four different tracks. The most notable was Mile Bush Pride’s 11 length win in the Welsh Derby where he took 40 spots off the 525 yard clock with a 28.80 run.
2008 Walthamstow host a benefit meeting in aid of local trainer Gary Baggs who is battling cancer. It raises around £70,000.
1964 In the Oaks final at Harringay, Cranog Bet (Knockhill Chieftain-Don’t Be, Jan 62) equals her own track record of 29.02 when winning the event for the second year in a row, by 13 lengths at 4/9 favourite, trained privately by Phil Rees, Peace Sprite, trained by Jim Quinn at Perry Barr, finishes fourth and goes on to win the Midlands Oaks at Kings Heath by seven lengths in a track record of 27.08 for the 495 yards trip.
2011 Sittingbourne and Poole are the hosts tracks for the introduction of Sunday night BAGS racing.
