With the final edition of Greyhound Star newspaper just three weeks away from publication, we are pleased to announce the arrival on the website of one of the most popular sections of the newspaper, Remember When. We plan further enhancements of the website in the coming weeks.
NOVEMBER
2012 Norwich players Steve Morison and Grant Holt launch their new syndicate at Yarmouth.
1966 In a newspaper interview, Ted Dickson regrets not giving up his electrical business sooner to concentrate on greyhound training. The Basingstoke trainer has managed a winner a fortnight since taking out his private trainers licence at the start of the year. He is assisted by John Cox.
1986 Ned Power’s Odell Supreme (Citizen Supreme-Odell Tansy, Nov 85) is carrying all before him. On November 1 he wins the £2,500 Waterford Glass Trophy. A week later, he leads an Irish 1-3-6 victory in the Anglo-Irish at Wimbledon before completing the month by taking the Irish leg of the event at Shelbourne Park with the English trio of Westmead Move, Westmead Wish and Olivers Wish finishing second, third and fourth.
1952 Jack Harvey lands the Olympic for the third time in four years with British bred Ballinasloe Lassie. The four-timer had been foiled the previous year when Arrow Boy was beaten a neck.
1980 Ernie Gaskin’s home bred Devilish Dolores (Glin Bridge-Dancing Dolores, follows up her recent 20-1 victory in the Oaks by winning the puppy equivalent at Wimbledon in 28.03 for the 460 metres.
1964 King Wonder, winner of the Spring Cup on the track at Dunmore earlier in the year, added coursing’s Tipperary Cup to his Conaught Cup success. The Jack Mullan trained dog is a litter brother to Irish Derby winner Wonder Valley, Millies Dandy (McAlevey Gold Cup) and Lucky Wonder.
2008 Martin White’s Wise Thought completely dominates the Betfred Eclipse at Notting-ham. 3-1 ante post with the sponsors, the son of Climate Control reaches the final unbeaten (1-3f, 1-4f, 1-3f) and then lands the £8,000 decider at 2-5f.
1996 The Star publishes a study into the destiny of 27 greyhounds who had contested the five major puppy finals in the autumn of 1994. 12 are still racing, 14 are retired, with one unknown.
1988 Perhaps the most famous turn-up for many years occurs in the first round of the Guineas at Hackney when beaten Derby favourite Curryhills Gara (2-5f) is beaten a short head by Mossy Moore (150-1). The locally trained winner is owned by Racing Post journalist Jim Austin. Gara is withdrawn lame from the second round where Mossy is eliminated.
2002 Within days of the BGRB launching New Deal, a row breaks out between Nottingham and Betfair. The betting exchange chose the launch to renege on its agreement not to bet on the Eclipse Final.
1964 The Irish Coursing Club admit to a few teething problems, a year after introducing the earmarking of puppies. The biggest problem concerns individual pups being sold and moved prior to the whole litter being tattooed.
2012 Belle Vue’s racing office is broken into. Apart from damage, computers have been stolen.
1999 A week after two trainers were sacked following an enquiry into doped dogs, two samples from dogs involved in races with “unusual betting patterns” fail to arrive in the post at the Newmarket testing lab.
2012 A profile in the Guardian of cycling superstar Bradley Wiggins reveals that as a youngster, he would regularly accompany his grandfather to Wimbledon dogs.
1985 Scurloge Champ is at the peak of his powers. Within the month he wins the £700 Mirror Bliss Stakes at Wembley, the £1,000 Caledonian Marathon at Powderhall, a £500 invitation at Derby (TR), a £500 invitation at Whitwood (TR), and the £500 Scurlogue Champ Challenge at Yarmouth.
1975 The NGRC decide to lift the ban on three trainers who had failed to fill in their quarterly kennel reports. The reprieved trio are Joe Booth, Emil Kovac and Carol Lawlor.
2007 Coventry’s unique plan to have six semi finals of a 72-runner maiden event are foiled when the final qualifier is cancelled due to fog.
1999 The Rye House Owners and Trainers Association takes over the running of the stadium.
2012 Recently attached George Oswald spends almost £10,000 on six greyhounds at Sheffield Sales including top lot Royal Buzz (3,700gns). The dog wins A2 before being moved onto Monmore where he joins Chris Allsopp. The sale turned over a total of £39,000.
2009 Perry Barr grader Charter Serina contests her 200th race for owner George Smith and trainer Julie Ridley.
1994 No SP is declared on a race at Perry Barr after a drunken punter attacked one of the bookies’ tic-tac men.
2012 Four years and three months after the closure of Walthamstow, the Racing Post greyhound section carries stories for four consecutive days of plans to fight development of the site.
1964 Vals Parachute, future winner of the Olympic, Greater London Trophy and Midland St Leger is sold at Aldridges Sales for 370 guineas.
2004 Walthamstow announce a £100,000 track improvement project which will include the installation of a Sealley hare.
2012 Trainer Maurice Rice faces a stewards enquiry after withdrawing six runners from a Peterborough BAGS meetings.
1995 The NGRC are to investigate the road accident in which two of Patsy Byrne’s Wimbledon graders are killed.
1988 Wembley receive 103 entries for the 48-runner St. Leger.
2004 The Racing Post introduces a ‘full form’ greyhound service on its website.
1953 White City RM Major Percy Brown is conducting a study to compare the best winter racing surface, hay or straw.
2012 One of the fastest, but unluckiest runners seen on either side of the water in the past two years, Razldalz Jayfkay is retired to stud. The closest that the Wimbledon 480m record holder came to a big race win was second place in Shelbourne’s Champion Stakes.
1988 The National Coursing Club take a lead over the NGRC by issuing a list of banned substances. (The NGRC blanket ban relates to ‘anything that can’t be attributed to normal feeding’). The NCC ban covers 17 substances or types of drugs including ‘muscle relaxants, respiratory stimulants, anti-histamines, substances affecting blood coagulation etc etc. They also produce threshold levels for caffeine and theobromine of ‘one microgramme per millilitre of urine’.
2012 Swindon hold a local enquiry when it transpires that their weighing scales have been inoperative for recent race meetings and trial sessions.
1966 Romford have so many entries for their 1,030 yard marathon that they duplicate it. The first and fastest is won by nine lengths by Ernie Gaskin’s Come On Dolores (5-4), but the 4-5f in the other division, Little Man, is beaten 11 lengths by Dave Barker’s Dreenan Rambler.
2010 Belle Vue come under fire when cancelling their meeting at 8.45pm, on the night of the Scurry and Northern Oaks Finals, due to a freezing track. The meeting is re-scheduled for a week later. The problems don’t end there because traffic problems on the rearranged date result in the non-appearance of favourite and second favourite Jimmy Ollie and Rotar Wing. In addition, Northern Oaks finalist Little Urge, who was joint second favourite for the English Oaks, cannot take place in that event as the first round is within 24 hours of the re-scheduled Belle Vue decider.
1994 Five months after losing his job as Romford racing manager, after altering a trap draw, Ray Spalding returns to his former job at Rye House.
2012 GBGB senior stipendiary steward Paul Illingworth is delighted with the response following an informal meeting with of the racing managers’ forum. Among the topics discussed were the repercussions of the phasing out of ID books, the possibility of webcasting open race trap draws, creating a DVD to help standardise the disqualification of greyhounds for aggressive interference and tweaking the requirement for point of registration sampling for home grown and reared pups.
1988 13 years after scrapping handicap racing, Hove announce plans to bring it back in the new year with stationary handicap boxes tiered on the inside rail.
1989 Race times at Hall Green have still not recovered after new sand was laid the previous month. The 480s are running an average of -140 slow and the 645s are estimated at -280.
2012 Monmore handler Chris Allsopp splits his kennel and has his first graded runners at Coventry.
1973 Several racetracks are forced to race in the afternoons following a Government ban on floodlighting due to the energy crisis. However the majority had heeded NGRC advice earlier in the year and bought generators.
2012 Ballymac Eske is a best priced 6-4 ante post favourite to win the Betfred Eclipse. Chasing a nine-timer, he goes out in the first round. The event goes to 22-1 ante post chance Sawpit Sensation.
1996 The RGT opens its first branch in Jersey.
2008 Wimbledon receive 132 entries for the Oaks. They require 48.
1988 A mercy mission by an RSPCA officer resulted in the dog’s owner being admitted to hospital. The officer despatched the dog, who was suffering a fit, with a shot from a pistol. How-ever the bullet past straight through the dog and into the owner’s foot.
1999 Wimbledon scrap their annual hurdling event the Christmas Vase due to a lack of a sponsor. It is run another eight times before being lost completely.
2012 Hall Green trainer Chris Kyme decides quit training with immediate effect. Racing manager Rob Coulthard says: “. . .he wants to win every race when I have 12 other trainers at Hall Green who also deserve their fair share”.
1999 There were red faces at the Stow when a trophy presented to open winner Megs So Pretty was discovered to be inscribed ‘Coral Romford Stadium’.
1999 Wimbledon trainers Tom Foster and Ray Peacock increase their kennel charges to £7 per day.
1995 Star columnist Phil Donaldson bemoans the lack of hurdlers in the Capital. A reccy of the various strengths reads Wimbledon (33), Crayford (32), Catford (28), Romford (18), Walthamstow (10), Wembley (1), Hackney (1)
1988 Racing resumes at Nottingham after a two week closure following the takeover by Derby promoter Terry Corden, who also runs Sheff-ield. Peter Robinson will be the new racing manager. The NGRC had insisted on the payment of £17,000 in outstanding fees before they will allow the track to resume racing.
1996 November 23 Middlesbrough closes its doors after 68 years and 7,810 meetings. A compensation agreement had been reached with the four local trainers and the site has been sold to the neighbouring technical college and is expected to be demolished. The stadium had opened to a crowd of 10,000 on Saturday 18 May 1928. The local media described the night, serenaded by 40 members of the Middlesex Regiment Band, as “a study in white and green, the whiteness of the grandstands, barriers and structures throughout the course being vivid offset to the track and training enclosure”
1964 Bob Rowe, former assistant racing manager to his father at Coventry and Leicester, has become time keeper and judge at West Ham.
2002 GRA’s Mike Raper suggests “sabotage” after the Belle Vue hare cable was found to be damaged due to two tears and the replacement cable “went missing”. The Friday meeting was cancelled.
