2012 The Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare Winter Ball, arranged by Dawn O’Brien, raises £18,500 for the local homefinders.
1948 Hall Green finish the year as top of the winning favourite’s table (45%) with Bristol second. Sheffield finish third (42.2%), Monmore are fourth (36.46%) and Wimbledon are sixth (34.49%).
1993 Middlesbrough hare driver Andy Sargent is taken to hospital after receiving an electrical shock from the hare controls.
2013 Bookmaker Gary Wiltshire announces his retirement from betting on greyhound tracks after 37 years. After standing at his final Sittingbourne meeting he states: “the on-course greyhound betting game has just about gone.”
1974 Harringay are to sand their bends for the first time. The deteriorating conditions on the rails came about following the increase in the banking on the bends.
2007 Walthamstow racing manager Chris Page celebrates his 50th birthday.
1946 Mr W L Hartley, breeder of the first two in the Catford Produce Stakes, is the latest breeder to close his kennel due to difficulties obtaining food for his pups during rationing.
1987 End of year figures will reveal that Ireland exported 8,261 greyhounds, of which 6,182 went to Britain at an average price of £262. Of those, 1,836 were sold at Shelbourne Sales, 936 at Limerick and 782 at Cork sales. 548,891 people paid for attendance, an average of 295 people per meeting.
1951 100-1 chance Castle Tina, who was bought by owner Alf Vango for £50, wins the Orient Vase for trainer Dave Geggus.
2012 Runaway Turbo was not destined to win the KAB Maiden Derby at Henlow. The Kelly Findlay trained runner had been leading a heat which was stopped in the interests of safety. He had won the re-run, only for it to be discovered that he was ineligible to race as he wasn’t qualified having only contested one three-runner trial.
1992 Bodies Lisa (Murlens Slippy-Off The Line) wins the Premier Byproducts Marathon at Harolds Cross by ten lengths in 60.14 for the 1,025 yards.
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.
2012 Aero Rebel removed one of the oldest records from the archives when slicing half a second off Salina’s 31 year old Romford 925m clock.
1953 S F J Hodgman, head of the Canine Research Station at the Animal Health Trust, tells a meeting of the Dobermann Pincher Club that first results on a new distemper vaccine, given to 350 greyhounds, at various tracks, have resulted in a high level of success.
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 Manch-ester Puppy Cup, Trafalgar Cup and Eclipse Puppy Stakes.
1995 GRA announce that Hall Green will be fitted with a Bramich hare in the New Year.
1948 Ruby Border (Creamery Border-Keel Ruby, 38 finishes the year as the UK’s champion sire. It is a first sire’s championship for a dog who died in December 1946. Border (53) finished with four more winners than closest rival Lone Seal with the outstanding young sire Mad Tanist already at no.3 on the table. A table of the top 11 sires (10th place is shared) shows two sons of Creamery Border (Ruby Border, Manhattan Midnight), three sons of Castledown Lad (Bellas Prince, Baytown Tulip, Captain Brown) and two sons of Tanist (Mad Tanist, Tanimon).
1933 Wimbledon become the first track to announce the racing weights of runners. The scheme was met with “favourable comment.”
1988 Catford owners have been asked to stay away from all trainers kennels following a severe outbreak of kennel sickness.
2011 Oxford council announce a re-think on plans to designate the Oxford Stadium site for housing.
1966 Crayford open a new grandstand to replace the building destroyed by fire the previous year.
1971 Youghal becomes the fourth track owned by Bord na gCon when they buy 80% of the company shares for just over £15,000.
1951 Owner/trainer Papps was rushed to hospital after being taken ill while his dog Lambourn Blackflash was being paraded for the heats of the Christmas Vase. The dog duly won his heat and trainer Sidney Orton offered to look after the dog for the final which he duly won.
1986 December 12. Ballyregan Bob sets a new world record of 32 consecutive wins in the Racing Post World Challenge at Hove. The race marks the end of Bob’s career. During it he broke 16 track records.
1951 Head girl Pam Heasman is to take over the Denver Lodge kennel of her boss, and leading trainer Stan Biss who announces his retirement from the sport.
1974 Wembley retain their National Inter-track title after beating Perry Barr in the final.
1977 Trainer Noreen Collin announces her retirement from the greyhound industry. She will sell her kennel at Forest Cottage. Among the dogs she handled were Hi Joe, Magourna Reject, Super Rory and Westpark Quail
1986 Poole stage handicap racing for the first time over 632 metres.
1948 Local Interprize ends the year as the country’s most successful open racer. Wins in the Gold Collar, Welsh Derby, Scurry Cup and Cesarewitch and second place in the Derby bringing his winnings from 37 races to £3,740 – equivalent to £130,600 today.
1988 Monmore staged a unique event – an eight-runner hurdle final. The £3,000 Midland Champion Hurdle was won by Tom Foster’s Nifty Kid.
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.”
1962 T C Parry, a director of Boundary Park, Norwich announces that the track will not race again following its final meeting on December 1. The track opened in October 1932 and staged five-runner handicaps over 500 yards. The site, between Overbury Road and Coronation Road is now a B & Q Superstore.
2012 Former Hall Green and Perry Barr boss Stephen Rea relinquishes his role as GRA’s PR consultant.
