1981 It is a bad month for puppy thefts with eleven pups stolen from five different locations within the space of a fortnight.
1998 Top Honcho leaves quarantine kennels in England en route to Michael Dunn’e kennel in Ireland. Meanwhile six year old stud dog Cry Dalcash dies from cancer.
1977 Try It Blackie, one of the best hurdlers of his generation is retired after contesting 129 races including 116 opens, of which he won 46 and over £5,000 in prize money. Trained by Harringay’s Frank Melville, he was originally bought at Hackney sales for 48 guineas.
2006 A major row breaks out in Ireland when IGB chief executive Aidan Tynan is sacked. Chairman Paschal Taggart claims that the sacking was “related to performance, nothing else” However it emerges that Tynan had written to minister John O’Donoghue over his concern that the Board had failed to announce two positive dope tests for the drug EPO. It emerged that two trainers had been fined €1,000 by the Board and had prize money withdrawn though the details were never made public.
2013 Trainer Dolores Ruth arrives in Australia ahead of a string of young Irish stars who she plans to race there. The first two are Irish Puppy Derby winner Razldazl Luke and Razldazl Apollo.
1947 Racing names deemed to irritate racing journalists include Killeenagallive Glory, New Killoughteen Square and Red Lion Bridgetittle.
2006 Belle Vue trainer Pat Branagh retires and is replaced by Ian Aylward. The Lincolnshire based trainer hands in his notice five months later blaming financial reasons due too few of his runners being given races. Mrs Branagh dies six months after her retirement
1973 Blackpool promoter Frank Boyle is fined £50 by local magistrates for “failing to take steps to provide space for bookmakers”, The court action followed a game of ‘cat and mouse’ between the promoter and the layers when they refused to increase their fees. First Boyle refused the bookies access, he later allowed access but erected a fence around them and charged punters extra to the new ‘enclosure’. At one stage, punters attempted to place bets by reaching over the fence – so Boyle made the fence higher!
1951 The only British litter ever sired by American champion Real Huntsman are bred by Mrs Joliffe, wife of the Wembley racing manager. The dam Antic Mary was sent to the USA to be mated and produced her litter in quarantine.
1934 January Greyhound punters have never had it so good in Glasgow. There is racing at Carntyne, Albion, Shawfield, White City, Clydebank, Olympic, Capplelow, Firhill, Carfin and Wishaw, nearly all operating matinee and evening meetings.
1982 Two greyhound which were part of a consignment of 25 ex-racers were killed in a haulage operation between Fife and Horsham. One dog died en route, another was bitten and had to be put to sleep and many were found to be in a distressed state. The courier was fined £200 as was the owner of the dogs, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Ciba Geigy. The dogs had been bought for heart research experimentation purposes and were destined for the company’s headquarters in Basle, Switzerland.
1987 Two former racing office assistants are to become journalists. Bruce Millington, formerly in the Catford and Hackney racing offices is to join a new paper, the London Daily News. Meanwhile Terry Norman, who worked in the Wembley and Romford racing offices is to join the Sporting 1950 M Gomersall who resigned as Catford racing manager earlier in the week is announced as the new owner of Doncaster Greyhound Stadium. The stadium was sold for a figure between £30-40,000.
1973 Brighton’s new track lighting system was given its first public try-out and was voted a success said chairman Gerard Kealy. Designed and constructed by the stadium’s own staff, the lighting standards have been extended to throw more light over the track and in addition an extra lamp lower down the pole, illuminates the greyhounds from the inside, so the patrons can see them more clearly along the straights.
2013 GTA Chairman Ricky Holloway has his explanation accepted in a GBGB enquiry following the non-arrival of two of his runners in an open race at Hove the previous month.
1998 It appears that Ladbrokes are now Britain’s second biggest track promoter following their acquisition of Corals for £375.5M. However the sale was subsequently quashed by the Government.
1947 There are 54 private trainers registered with the NGRC with the largest number – 12 – being based in Kent.
1977 Bristol Stadium have announced that speedway racing will be starting in May on the existing greyhound track surface. Owners and trainers had not been consulted about sharing the same surface, granite chippings, which they believe could cause injury to the greyhounds.
2008 Pall Mall winner Ballymac Charley collapses and dies following a minor open race at Hull. A winner of 21 of his 40 opens races, it is believed that the son of Daves Mentor suffered a heart attack.
1960 NGRC provincial courses licensed in January 1960: Aberdeen, Bradford-Greenfield, Bristol-Eastville, Bristol-Knowle, Cardiff Arms Park, Derby, Edinburgh-Powderhall, Glasgow-White City, Gloucester, Hull-Craven Park, Leeds, Manchester Belle-Vue, Manchester-Salford, Manchester-White City, Middlesbrough, Newcastle-Gateshead, Newcastle-Gosforth, Newport, Norwich-Boundary Park, Norwich-City, Nottingham-White City, Oxford, Portsmouth, Ramsgate-Dumpton Park, Rochester, Sheffield-Darnell, Sheffield-Owlerton, Southampton, South Shields.
1936 January 21 King George V dies. On January 22, the standing committee of the National Greyhound Racing Club, sends telegrams to all tracks and coursing clubs, racing under NGRC rates, stating that all meetings are suspended until after the state funeral on Tuesday 27.
1966 Liverpool’s Seafield track closes down for industrial development. The city is down to just one track, White City at Anfield. Neighbouring Breck Park burned down in 1948 and Stanley’s 19 acres were sold off to the Liverpool Corporation in 1962.
1958 Greyhound Express readers contribute to a debate as to the oldest living greyhound. The verdict goes to Fair Leads who was one month short of his 16th birthday.
2015 Bubbly Tornado, the next expensive purchase of the Champagne Syndicate is disqualified for fighting in his seventh outing. Re-schooled, he returns to racing and receives his ‘second yellow’ two runs later.
1947 Figures reveal that 1946 will be the best year ever to be a track promoter. Around £200m was bet on Britain’s 80 NGRC tracks with the promoters keeping a deduction of £12m – roughly equal to £425m at today’s values. Within a year, the Government will introduce a 10% tote tax and turnover falls by half.
1949 Following a series of complaints from the UK and the warning off of several Irish breeders, the ICC introduces a new identification form for puppies.
1967 In a bid to “reduce over production” (3,840 litters in 1966) the ICC raises the annual stud dog registration fee from £5 to £20 (index linked to £668).
1950 There is a clash of opinions following the application to allow the first ever greyhound track in Dorset. It is opposed by Lord Llewellin, chairman of the Dorset Quarter Sessions on the grounds that it leads to ‘undesirable characters coming into the county from outside and there would be an increase in juvenile crime.” However the head of Dorset County Council Colonel A D Pass said: “I object to people interfering with my amusements and I do not see why I should object to other peoples.” Vice chairman of the council Captain Angus V Hambro noted “the track would not attract people any more undesirable than those already in the county” (Don’t shoot the messenger – Ed)
1964 The following article was penned by journalist Harry Lloyd in December 1964, when some of the original witnesses of Britain’s first ever greyhound meeting were still around to tell the tale.
“The starter’s flag hanging limply at his side on a warm July evening at Gorton, Manchester, 38 years ago had hardly any significance for the small crowd who had come to watch Britain’s first greyhound meeting.
But the flag that was suddenly raised heralded not only the fact that the sport of greyhound racing was about to be born.
It was Belle Vue who staged that historic meeting on July 24, 1926. About 1,700 curious spectators, mostly coursing enthusiasts, saw the sport launched in this country.
From its early – and humble – beginnings, with one gaunt grandstand and a 500yds course, Belle Vue has progressed to a fine stadium with glass-fronted restaurant, under-soil heating and spectator comfort envied by every other sport.
It was Bill Johnson who sent the battery-driven hare bouncing on its way for that first race. And it was only last year that Bill retired after a lifetime and thousands of miles of hare-driving.
As Bill sent the hare towards the starting boxes – it was often held up by the many cats which h infested the track at that time – the starter’s eyes never left the white-painted mark on the hare rail three yards before the trap.
As it reached this mark he would press down a handle and the traps would fly open.
Eric Hiscock, successful Harringey trainer, was one of the first handlers at the Northern track.
Said Eric, now 58, “There were six of us in those days. We charged the owners a guinea a week to keep their dogs – the odd shilling for veterinary care. We had about 30 dogs each, and a couple of kennel boys slept in with them.’
It was Brigadier-General A C Critchley, perhaps the most famous name in greyhound racing, who said to Eric one day: ‘I want you to take some dogs to South Africa.’ And Eric duly obliged.
The clear-voiced trainer from Oare, Marlborough – the birthplace of some famous greyhound trainers in the heart of horse-racing territory – stayed at the northern circuit for 10 years before coming to London.
“But after the war, when I left the RAF I was asked to return to Manchester as kennel manager. I stayed another six years before returning to London to have my own kennel. But I liked Manchester and the people up there. They were always so very friendly.”
The bookmakers thronged to the track in those early days.
One bookmaker who attended the first meeting was Andrew Seddon. He liked what he saw and came back with the tools of his trade at the second meeting and has been there ever since.
Belle Vue, as they are now, were full of ideas. They put on complete meetings for hurdlers, and staged a miniature Grand National with wood and cardboard ‘mock’ walls, water jump, and a 4ft high privet hedge.
Greyhound racing has come a long way since the days of the dipping flag and Heath Robinson contraption which brought the scuttling hare to a standstill.
The original photo of Mistley winning the first ever greyhound race in Britain was destroyed during World War II though thankfully copies had been made, including the one from which this reproduction is made.
Mistley’s race was the first on a six race card, including one hurdle event.
There were 37 meetings staged at Belle Vue during that first summer season of racing. In the photo, note the judges box on the inside of the track and the eight runner traps. In January 1928, the rules of racing were amended to ban eight dog races.
