1957 Wembley are to follow the lead of Walthamstow in replacing their white lure with a brown one. Also, following trials, they black out the top half of the starting traps leaving the bottom 15 inches clear. The aim is to see if dogs remain calmer and trap more consistently.
2000 Monmore are hammered by the NGRC after inadvertently scheduling grader Oaklands Susie to run in two different graded races. They are fined £750. They are also reprimanded for ‘excessive’ use of sampling resources.
1989 A year on from their first major expansion which double the size of the main grandstand, Peterborough announce that Saturday night attendances have risen from an average of 450 to around 700 and they are struggling to cope. As a result and following that initial investment of £500,000, promoter Rex Perkins announces that plans have already been filed for a £300,000 extension to take the grandstand over the top of the kennels and into the last bend.
1963 Stan Barrett’s Derby and Scurry winners Lucky Boy Boy and Lucky Joan II are drawn in the same Laurels trialstake alongside Welsh Derby winner Fairy Chum and Grand Prix winner Mondays Ranger. All four are beaten by 10-1 shot Bulgaden Glory (10-1) who had been beaten in both the Derby and Scurry finals.
2011 Peterborough plans to reduce trouble in their Derby by requiring all runners to trial over the Derby course come to nothing when four runners in the fourth heat are beaten a distance.
1937 Syd Hyams, owner of Gold Collar winner Avion Ballerino, puts on two parties for 4,000 children with 2,000 being entertained at the troxy in Stepney and a similar number invited to the Trocadero at Elephant and Castle.
1965 Bord na gCon have amended their rules of fighting to prevent dogs running instant clearing trials. From now on, no dog can trial within seven days of its disqualification. Also, it cannot run its second clearing trial on the same day as the first. Britain retains its ‘three trial’ rule.
1952 Bristol tracks Eastville and Knowle are the latest to apply for permission to race under rule 45a. This allows tracks to call the winner for betting purposes on a ‘first past the post’ rule. Wimbledon’s application was refused by the stewards. The rest of the London tracks will continue to call ‘no race’ where dogs fight during a race.
1972 On course betting tax is reduced from 5% to 4%. Tracks take advantage of law changes by increasing their tote deductions from 121/2% to 161/2%.
1958 Local trainer Tommy Johnston landed the Scottish Derby at Carntyne with Just Fame. Beaten in the afternoon heats, the 4-1 chance was 14 spots slower in the final but got home by a neck.
1947 Wembley cancel the Ascot Stakes due to insufficient entries. The one-off has entry fees of £5 (index linked to £200) with £120 (£4,800) to the winner plus a trophy valued at £100 (£4,000).
1965 Monalee King, sold for £2,000 between the semis and final of the Wexford Leger duly lands the £350 decider for new owner Terry Rogers. The son of Odd Venture and Sheila At Last had set a new Enniscorthy 550 clock of 30.60 earlier in the event.
1986 Shawfield announce that the Scottish Derby will be reduced to six runners with a first prize of £1,000. In the same week, Glasgow neighbours Ashfield advertise their Derby with a first prize of £4,000.
1965 Vivid Fire, a bitch who was so badly injured in a kennel fight that her owners were advised to put her to sleep, returns to win the Northern Oaks. The Percy Stag trained bitch had 54 stitches sewn into a shoulder wound.
1973 Former Walthamstow open racer Rita’s Choice breaks the Harolds Cross and Shelbourne Park 750 yard track records in the space of a few days. Both clocks are in finals of major stakes, the Corn Cuchalainn and Irish TV Trophy respectively. In England he broke the 700 yard clock at Southend.
2011 For the second time in three years, the same owner/trainer combination take the two major stakes at the William Hill Festival. Blonde Fletch (7-4) favourite lands the Grand Prix and kennel mate Blonde Snapper (5-2) comes good in the Classic to give owner Mark Currell and trainer Mark Wallis a £40,000 double. The pair were emulating the Ponder/Collett double of 2008 when Lensons Express and Joker collected £65,000 for a night’s work.
1947 Greyhound Owner highlights an unpalatable trade in foster mothers. Following the huge demand in pups, unscrupulous owners are mating their, often moderate, bitches every season and leasing them out to breeders of top class broods to assist in the rearing of big litters. There is no comment passed on what happens to the foster dam’s potential litter and many of the bitches are being sent vast distances on railway journeys.
2009 The GTA are unhappy over new kennel inspection forms introduced by the Greyhound Regulatory Board. The trainers are unhappy that the new forms require a far more extensive, and costly veterinary check, and that they were not consulted until after the form was issued.
