1981 GRA announce that it has paid off roughly two thirds of its £22m debt incurred during its speculation in the property markets a decade earlier. Equated to today, that 1971 debt would be roughly £323m.
1976 Tartan Khan, who completed the English Derby and St Leger double the previous year, is one of 23 dogs in the Personality Parade at Crufts Dog Show at Olympia.
1951 Ante Post favourite Lily Of Laguna is beaten in the Waterloo Cup Final by Peters Poet who was rated a 200-1 chance at the call over. The owners believe the dog’s improvement is due to trainer Harry Hoad. They noted that prior to the Braby born dog’s switch to Hoad five weeks, he “always had pace but could not kill.” The dog is paraded at ‘home track’ Leicester.
1983 ICC stewards launch an investigation into the death of Coursing Derby quarter finalist Baron Luck. The Anne Power bred and trained dog had been found in a distressed state in the stables prior to the quarter final. He was due to compete against litter brother Autumn Crystal who duly ran a bye course before going on to win the stake.
1979 Two former stars of the flat finish first and second in the William Hill Hurdle Championship at White City. Westmead Manor (Hunt Cup, Steel City Cup, Derby finalist) leads home Saucy Buck (TRs Bletchley, Watford, Shawfield, Reading) to win the £1,000 first prize for trainer Natalie Savva.
1968 The lifting of the ban of greyhound movement due to Foot and Mouth allows a top quality bunch of Irish dogs to be entered in Hackney Sales. Despite all dogs being restricted to sprints, over £8,500 changed hands on the day. (Equivalent to £147K today) However, the dog that had attracted the most pre-sale attention, Creamery Pat, was beaten in his trial and failed to reach his reserve. Jack Mullan’s dog had previously won the Dunmore Puppy Cup and reached the semi finals of the Coursing Derby.
1937 The former Stan Biss trained pair Whipped J and Whipped Lass respectively land the 10,000 franc Prix de Feves and Prix de St Aubin at Paris’s Courbevoie stadium.
2010 Crayford cancel trials to allow track staff to work on the racing circuit. The previous race meeting saw winning traps, 3,6,6,4,6,6,6,6,5,5,6,6,3,6. But spare a thought for backers of A7 runner Rachel Dubh who, in the ninth race, was attempting to be the fifth consecutive winner in stripes. She failed – at 2-5f.
1991 Nottingham bookie Peter Derrick wins £54,000 on the football pools.
1968 Roger Cearns, son of Wimbledon MD John Cearns, marries actress Penny Spencer.
2001 The Ladbrokes Golden Jacket gets underway with Palace Issue (5-2 ante post) attempting to make amends for his odds-on defeat the previous year. Eventual winner Blues Best Tayla is readily available at 10s with the sponsors.
1983 Scottish businessman Jim Glass takes over the greyhound operations at Brough Park and Gosforth. He immediately introduces a string of measures that have owners up in arms. First, he withdraws owners passes (and replaces them with a reduced entry fee of £1). He then increases the annual rent of the track kennels from £600 to £3,000 and introduces a £2 entry fee for all races.
2010 William Hill launch their ‘trilogy series’. They will pay an additional £25,000 bonus to any dog winning two of their major three races, the English Derby, Festival Classic and All England Cup. There will be a £75,000 bonus for any dog winning all three.
1978 Britain is hit by an outbreak of puppy thefts. In one weekend alone, a total of 10 pups were taken from three different kennels, two in Surrey and one in Derbyshire. The last named offence resulted in the conviction for theft of three men from Chester.
2010 The first race of Swindon’s Arc SKY meeting is declared void when the John Mullins trained Insolvencylsit completes the course in her parading coat. Most bookies agree to pay out of the winner Farley Totti.
