1971 Only a year after taking out a licence, Bert White is voted Trainer of the Year. The move is not universally endorsed despite the success of the kennel’s Dolores Rocket. Some critics point out that the bitch, who was still a pup at the start of the year, had often been run on unsuitable tracks and over unsuitable distances, and contested 40 races despite having been out of action since October.
1995 Monmore’s deputy racing manager Tim Hale is sacked following allegations made by local trainer Paul Stringer who has stated his intention to leave the industry.
1995 Stainforth are fined £2,500 by the NGRC for failing to pay prize money and time and for repeated failures to have a functioning photo finish system.
1971 All meetings at Shelbourne and Harolds Cross are cancelled until further notice due to a strike by bookmaker’s assistants.
1969 Wimbledon are hugely disappointed with the turnout for the Puppy Championship final with only 1,899 paying customers, compared to the previous year’s figure of 5,380.
1995 Westmead Merlin is retired to stud with a long term shoulder injury. His victories included the Arc, Produce Stakes, Champion Stakes and the Dundalk International.
1967 Pre-empting the Government banning the movement of greyhounds under the Foot And Mouth quarantine, Rayleigh invite their ‘C-licence’ holders to put their dogs in the stadium owned kennels. The plan works and the stadium is able to keep racing. The only track to close due to the crisis is Bletchley, though Ireland has come to a complete standstill. Betting shops have shut down and staff sent on early holidays.
1971 An unidentified man jumped onto the track at Slough, pulled the racing jacket off runner Jog On, grabbed the lead off the parader, and ran out of the stadium with the dog. The owner of Jog On and had previously let it be known to the track management that he did not want the dog to run in stayers races.
1972 After experiencing problems with the hare on the first Saturday in December, the Limerick management decide to close the track until the New Year.
1993 Catford announce that their Boxing Day crowd is up nearly 10% on the previous year when 3,500 punters crowd into the South London stadium.
1974 Kevin Frost, director of the privately owned Limerick track announces that the stadium will close indefinitely. In a statement, Frost states that the board have “taken a long hard look at the continuation of greyhound racing and soccer to see if the stadium would be put to more profitable use.” The background to the story is that the owners of the private tracks want the right to run their own totalisators, which are currently operated by the state.
1968 Shelbourne Leger winner Clomoney Jet is retired to stand alongside his sire Prairie Flash at Tony Nugent’s ‘Greenane’ range.
1967 A clerical error at an unidentified South London track underpaid forecast winners by £200. The anonymous track gave the surplus to an old people’s home.
1957 Nottingham promoter Elias Jolley is found not guilty on all charges relating to rigging tote odds at the track between 1943 and 1956. Two track employees are already serving prison sentences relating to the same offences.
1992 Tony Stanton, one of the biggest owners and trainers at Wimbledon is killed in an “industrial accident”.
1996 Coral issue ante post prices on the 1997 English Derby. They have eventual winner Some Picture heading the market at a tasty 25-1. However, a big gamble on He Knows sees Tony Morris reduce the eventual runner-up to 12-1. Morris also has Some Picture priced at 25-1.
2011 The GBGB announce that in a cost cutting measure, they have decided not to renew the contract of Steve Winfield, chairman of the Greyhound Regulatory Board.
1996 Sporting Life breeding columnist Floyd Amphlett appears on Channel Four’s Big Breakfast programme for an article about stud values.
1967 Bristol becomes the latest track to rip up its entire turf circuit and replace it with sand.
1973 The NGRC announce that metrication will take place from January 1. All races distances will be converted to metres, racing weights go from pounds to kilos. All tracks must carry conversion tables in racecards. Furthermore race distances will now be measured at one metre from the inside rail, and the random application of times allowances to distances, will be unified at .08 per length. Many tracks simply convert their 525 yards to 484m, but Brighton decide to switch their ‘standard’ from 525 to their 550 yard trip, and repackage it as ‘500m’.
1981 Harolds Cross introduce the longest race distance in Ireland – 1025 yards. The previous toughest trip was Celtic Park’s 915 yards.
2010 A dream is fulfilled for the Locke-Hart family when Freedom Emma lands the English Oaks at the second time of asking. One year earlier, and just days after the funeral of owner Stuart Locke-Hart, whose lifetime ambition was to win the event, Emma was caught in the final strides of the category one final by Shaws Dilemma. In the 2010 final the black appeared to be beaten when finding herself among the pack at halfway, but showing uncharacteristic stamina, she took the lead at the third bend and held off Snowy Skye by half a length.
Oaks winner FREEDOM EMMA and her connections, L-R: assistant trainer Matt Richards, Wayne Yeates (son) and trainer Richard Yeates, owner Ed Locke-Hart, and kennelhand Sophie Hogan. Wimbledon 14 December 2010 Pic Steve Nash
