1987 Independent racing legend Joe Booth dies in hospital on New Years Eve aged 81.
1977 Glenroe Hiker who changed hands between semis and final collects the £1,250 first prize in the Dunmore Puppy Cup Final for new owners Colm and Mary McGrath.
1934 Mutton Cutlet, probably the first great sire of racing greyhounds, dies aged 14 at TA Morris’ kennel in Clonmel. Born in Cotswolds, his coursing career was comparatively modest, finishing the runner-up in the 1925 Waterloo Purse. Acquired the following year for stud purposes by TA Morris – founder of the Irish Coursing Club – the brindle made an instant impact on the Irish coursing fields with a string of wins in both the Coursing Derby and Oaks. However his influence on the track was arguably greater. His greatest sons were Future Cutlet and Beef Cutlet who each won a string of classics and were famously separated by a short head in the 1933 English Derby Final. Beef Cutlet was a brother of Queen Of The Suir, a winner of two English and one Irish track Oaks, and Monalogue, winner of the Coursing Oaks and Irish track Derby. In addition to his Irish and British achievements, Mutton Cutlet is also an inductee at the NGA Hall Of Fame in the Kansas.
1950 GRA win a court case against a woman who fell over when the lights were dimmed during a meeting at White City. Her claim for £131 was dismissed by the judge who stated: “Whether her spirit of gambling inspired this action I do not know, but it is rather a disgraceful action.”
1996 Wimbledon racing manager Simon Harris escapes with minor neck injuries when his car is written off following an accident on the M40.
1946 Two owners of dogs disqualified for fighting prepare to take the NGRC to court. Both owners have paid £10 for the NGRC to review their cases – each claim that the dogs were the innocent victims of aggression from other dogs. However, the stewards refused the requests noting “there was nothing in the rules that allowed for an appeal.”
1988 George Curtis and Ballyregan Bob are the guests of honour at a South London betting shop as SIS launch their live greyhound broadcasting service.
1933 The sport completes a full year of racing without any NGRC meeting being lost to frost. A NGRC release puts the reason down to the “plentiful supply of peat moss litter.”
1973 With Britain’s 42 NGRC tracks congratulating themselves on avoiding the Government’s electric lighting ban on outdoor events – they all bought generators – a new order determines that the ban remains, whether the electric is supplied by a company, or by the tracks themselves. Crayford and Gosforth continue to race, arguing that since their racing circuits are under roofs, they are not ‘outdoor events’. Most tracks switch to matinee meetings at the weekend.
2011 Charlie Lister adds the most prestigious missing competition to his British open race CV when Silverview Perky decimates the field in the Oaks Final. The even money favourite gets home by six lengths in 28.40. With only three weeks of the year remaining, Lister moves to within seven points of Trainers Championship leader Chris Allsopp. However the Newark trainer then declares himself a non-runner for the run-in. Plans to run runners in two competitions at Sheffield, worth 20 points each, are abandoned due to problems with the racing surface at the Yorkshire circuit.
1945 December 29 Due to a mechanical defect of the hare, the entire meeting at West Ham, which included the Cesarewitch final, is lost. Special dispensation from the NGRC allows the 1945 decider to be staged in early 1946.
1952 Walthamstow stage the most in-demand match of the moment between Marsh Harrier ( a winner of 11 of his last 15 opens) and Magourna Reject, whose only defeats in his last nine races were in the finals of the Cesarewitch and St Leger. The result is a six length win for Reject who clocks 30.18 for the 525 yards.
1994 NGRC chief executive Archie Newhouse admits that an unnamed dog tested positive in the recent Laurels Final but that the Club had decided not to prosecute since “the level of the drug was not enough to enhance performance.” Newhouse states: “We take threshold levels only for caffeine and its associated xanthine enhancer drugs because a certain amount of these substances can get into a greyhound through coffee, tea and chocolate. There are no threshold levels for most other banned substances because they would not come through the food chain.
2001 Graham Hutt, well known on the independent circuit is waiting to discover if he will be granted an NGRC trainer’s licence, some five months after applying.
1927 The year opened with one track racing, Belle Vue, but by the winter shut down in October, it had been joined by Birmingham (Hall Green), Bradford (Greenfield), Edinburgh (Powderhall), Harringay Park, Leeds (Fullerton Park), Liverpool (Stanley), and White City (London). There were 262 meetings staged.
2011 New Years Ever heralds acknowledgements of two stellar careers. Charlie Lister has been awarded the Order of the British Empire in commendation for services to greyhound racing. Meanwhile Norah McEllistrim collects the Greyhound Writers vote for services to the Greyhound industry.
1961 Reading bookmaker Arthur ‘Jammy’ Prior dies of a heart attack after being robbed of £700 following a race meeting. The track offer a £100 reward for information leading to a conviction.
1996 Sporting Life breeding columnist Floyd Amphlett appears on Channel Four’s Big Breakfast programme for an article about stud values.
1961 Yeovil’s Larkhill Stadium publish an unusual advert in Greyhound Owner. It reads: “Notice to Patrons. Mr F Brand, well known to patrons in the West Country, and other parts, has been appointed Racing Manager at this stadium. Like us, he started from scratch in greyhound racing. He progressed from kennelboy to open race trainer, then to grader and is a man of proved ability and integrity”- “We started at this stadium 14 years ago with a ball of string and bicycle. By sheer hard work and Ballyhoo, we now have a good track, and most of the necessary amenities. We have earned and get the respect of our patrons” – “Almost every open race we have put on has filled. We have run more opens and given more added prize money that any other track in this area” – “We shall not try to be the ‘White City of the West’ but we do guarantee a fair deal always”.
1988 Independent racing lost another popular venue when Preston closed two months ahead of schedule.
2002 Linda Jones finishes champion trainer for the second consecutive year, almost 150 points ahead of John Mullins.
1946 Greyhound racing discovered a new fan in M Klentsov, head of the Soviet Trade Delegation. The Secretary for Overseas Trade, visited White City for the first time and “picked out most of the winners at the meeting and backed his choice each time.”
1963 Pat Dalton narrowly failed to win the Biscayne International with Kincora Prince narrowly beaten on points by the USA’s Anka. However Dalton sold on his team which also included Theres Mink, Kish Conchqest, Grove Twist, Barber Chieftain and Marys Mansion for approx £6,500.
1950 Walter Smith, unemployed of Maids Moreton and Arthur Anderson of South Ockendon are found guilty of breaking into Dagenham Stadium and blowing open a safe with explosives. Their haul was £9, though they also did £2,000 worth of damage. They were also found guilty of blowing open a safe at the Odeon Cinema in Hornchurch and stealing £338. Both men received 10 year prison sentences.
1933 Carlisle based Tommy Johnston, one of the best known figures in track and coursing, has accepted a job as a trainer at West Ham. He will bring “a top class kennel of North Country dogs” with him.
1972 Wembley trainer Tom Johnston lands the Romford Puppy Cup for the third consecutive year when his Puppy Oaks runner-up Shara Flash (Silver Hope-Flashy Minnie) obliges. The runner-up was Black Banjo, who had also finished second in the Kent Puppy Salver and Puppy Derby, and down the field in the Manchester Puppy Cup, Trafalgar Cup and Eclipse Puppy Stakes.
1988 Slieve Donard is withdrawn from a Wembley open after producing a positive dope test. Two hours later, a second test gives a negative result. Interestingly, the greyhound is trained by future NGRC stipendiary steward Irene McNally who is fined £200.
