1983 Hay Maker Mack, the dog whose record for the Derby distance would never be broken, retires to stud after breaking a hock in the Essex Vase.
1973 17 month old Miles Apart (Monalee Gambler-White May, Feb 72) is sold for 450 guineas at Shelbourne Sales. He goes on to break the 465m, 485m and 510m track records at Perry Barr and twice break the 474m clock Hall Green.
2010 Arsonists wipe out the derelict VIP Bar at Portsmouth which closed earlier in the year.
1960 Romford stage what is believed to be the longest ever match race over 1030 yards. It is a match race between local runner Glittering Tango and Wimbledon’s eventual winner Town Hall Prince
1951 Wimbledon become the second London track to estimate the value of a length as 0.08 of a second. However, most of the tracks in the country will continue with the value of 0.06.
1947 Transvaal, the only province in South Africa which allows greyhound racing decided to ban it following pressure from church groups.
2000 Reactabond Rebel becomes the first dog ever to add the Peterborough Derby to the Puppy equivalent at Fengate. The Paul Young trained black beat a field that included English Derby finalists Jaspers Boy, Secret Crystal and the prolific El Boss.
1936 July 4 E Warner’s Bull Ring, a 4-1 chance from trap 2, wins the Welsh Derby in 30.23 at Cardiff White City. This is the last time the event is run there, being transferred to Cardiff Arms Park the following year.
1963 The National Greyhound Racing Society offer betting shops “an insurance against blank racing days” For £50 per shop they will receive (between November and May 1) a telephone service of race by race results (including a ‘show’) from morning and afternoon tracks when there is only one or no horse meeting. 2) A licence to bet at track totalisator odds off the course. The scheme, which will one day morph into BAGS, is largely dismissed by the bookies.
1985 Monmore take the new ‘freedom of racedays’ opportunity to a new level when staging a record 16 meetings in July. The change in legislation comes into effect on July 9. However, it is Ramsgate who become the first British track to race four times in the same week when they introduce Saturday morning racing.
1957 Wembley purchase a set of ‘junior sized’ racing jackets for the recently qualified Fermoy Daisy who weighs a mere 441/2 pounds (20.2kg).
2003 Three top open racers are retired within hours of each other. Scottish Derby winner Micks Mystic has failed to overcome a shoulder injury; Borna Dasher breaks a hock in the Cox Cup at Newbridge. Meanwhile Britain’s top stayer Centour Corker breaks a hock in the heats of the Regency.
1946 For sale – “Fine piano-wire racing muzzles – feather light – ideal for open racers 7s 6d each”. (Roughly £19.24 today).
2011 Fleeting Image, eliminated from the Corn Cuchulainn at the semi final stage, is re-instated following a bereavement for one of the other finalists and duly lands the €7,000 first prize.
1933 Stamford Bridge opens before a huge crowd, who see seven inter-tracks and a match race, between greyhounds from the other nine GRA tracks open at the time. The first race is won by Mrs C Neville’s SLD, trained by J Tallantire at Powderhall. The 4/6 favourite wins the 500 yard opener easily by five lengths in a time of 28.44. Later in the year SLD (bd d Gaulsmill-Kitty Kelly, Jul 31) goes on to win the first running of the Edinburgh Cup at his home track. In the match race over 700 yards flat, for £25 and trophy, H J Bullen’s Trinidad (bk d Taboc-Trumpet, May 30) at 6/4 beats Mrs J Hopkin’s in 40.47.
1985 A crowd of 2,500 filled Peterborough to watch Scurlogue Champ attempt his 17th straight victory. But the big black went lame off the second bend and began to walk back in the direction from which he had come. Amid all the confusion, Sneaky Liberty went into a long lead, only for a youth to run on the track on the home straight. Paddy Hancox’s bitch avoided the race wrecking attempt to win by 15 lengths. The stewards allowed the result to stand. Following the race, Scurlogue’s trainer Ken Peckham produced a stone which he claimed had been thrown at his dog and which had caused the injury.
2001 Hull stage the biggest race in their history – the gobarkingmad.com Hull Derby worth £7,000 to the winner. It goes to Droopys Vieri in 30.37.
1947 Romford received more than 700 entries for their annual greyhound show.
2009 Paul Illingworth is appointed as the new GBGB senior stipendiary steward.
1964 A ground breaking rule change is about to be passed by the NGRC. It will allow racing managers to choose the traps for all runners in graded races. At present, they are allowed to choose the traps for wide seeds, but must draw the remainder. The plan receives a mixed response with many owners writing to the press with concerns over the additional powers being given to racing managers.
1995 The protocol for refusing to register dogs under the names off former stars appears to have been forgotten. In Ireland, there is a dog racing as Entry Badge (first ever Derby winner) while Henlow have a grader named after one of the all-time greats, Priceless Border.
1986 The Sunday Times run an exposure on cruelty at the greyhound track in Madrid. The article shows picture of the stadium manager hitting greyhounds.
1975 A new independent track opens at Brean in Somerset.
1951 Crayford grader Gallerus Hero pulled up lame at the first bend with a dislocated hock. He was carried from the track to the paddock. As he has put back on the ground, he fell over, and is everyone’s amazement, the hock replaced itself, much to the total bemusement of the track vet.
2003 July 9 – some 11 days after the final the NGRC announce that Derby winner Droopys Hewitt has failed a dope test earlier in the competition and faces a stewards inquiry.
1975 Free To Run (Free Speech-Wallblack, Aug 73) earns trainer Tony McDermott a £100 bonus when she becomes the first runner to break the Yarmouth’s old 462 metre record, set in the pre-NGRC days. The fawn clocked 28.11, nine spots inside the old record in the semi finals of The Madge Lambert Memorial before completing a six-timer in the £250 final.
1987 Rye House owners Carter and Bailey have reached agreement for the sale of the track to a consortium which includes greyhound owner/breeder Toni Nicholls and bookmaker Sid Sweeney.
1966 One of the most amazing sales buys of all time takes place at Hackney sales. Puppy Monalee Champion, who will become one of the greatest sires in the history of the sport, does not appear, as he is engaged in the Irish Derby semi finals. He fails to make the final but is sold in his absence to Hertfordshire trainer Frank Conlon for a mere 810 guineas.
1997 Milton Keynes introduce handicap racing.
2009 Oxford trainer Gloria Stringer dies following a long battle with cancer. Within a week Poole racing manager Dave Lawrence also succumbs to a long term illness.
1977 July 30 Cardiff Arms Park hold their last meeting, featuring the final of the Welsh Oaks over 484 metres. It is won by Mrs B R Perrys’ Shiloh Jenny (w bd b Sole Aim-Shiloh Hope, Aug’75). Trained at Hal Green by Ray Wilkes, the 8-1 chance wins by a neck in 30.60. The honour of winning the last race, a £25 484 metre graded event goes to M Davies’s Lilliput Queen (w bk b Sole Aim-Quanns Queen, Apr’75), the 5/2 second favourite winning by a 3 1/2 lengths in 30.75 for trainer F Goodman. (Queen is then shipped off to White City where she is cared for by a young kennel lad who is the current editor of Greyhound Star)
2007 Dean Childs announces he is to give up his contract at Oxford and take to the open race circuit.
1987 Hove racing manager Jim Layton introduces a new policy when he allows an ‘outside’ trainer to run dogs in graded races. The first, and only, new handler is the area’s top breeder Jane Hicks. Unfortunately 1952 The Scottish Derby is cancelled due to insufficient entries. The reason was the anticipated participation of the top three dogs in training, Ballylanigan Tanist, Endless Gossip and Magourna Reject. Ironically, Ballylanican Tanist was the only one of the trio actually entered.
1996 Black Gem Charm, beaten in his first two graded races in A8 at Wimbledon, goes on a seven race winning spree culminating in a puppy open race. Within eight weeks, he had won the Puppy Derby.
1948 Two Polish punters are tried for passing forged tote tickets at Crayford Stadium. One was acquitted, the other was sentenced to 12 months in gaol. Meanwhile a former Hackney kennel-lad is bound over for two years for administering a ‘stopper’ chorabutol. The 17 year old was told by the court recorder “you have the great disadvantage of being born of a father with a criminal record. He undoubtedly led you into this.” The parent, Arthur Rider, a street trader from Blunham in Beds, receives a prison sentence of 21 months.
2012 The GBGB independent disciplinary committee determines that there is no case to answer in relation to 25 morphine positives detected during a four month period in late 2011 and early 2012. The samples are proven to have come from a proprietary dog feed. Meanwhile the Board’s veterinary director Simon Gower issues a warning to trainers following a recent outbreak of canine respiratory disease.
1978 At 63 pounds, Lacca Champion becomes the lightest dog ever to win the English Derby. He is also the first greyhound to go unbeaten through the new six round competion – he won his firsr round heat at Harringay. Drawn three in the £20,000 final, the black brindle, pursued Glenroe Hiker to the second bend and then drew clear for a length and three quarter win over Backdeed Man in 29.42. Lacca is trained by Pat Mullins and owned by Sandra and Paul Howell (he raced in Mrs Howell’s maiden name of Pearce).
1997 After a year of negotiations with the local council, Roger Cearns becomes the new promoter at Sittingbourne.
2013 Airport Captain (Big Daddy Cool-Airpot Boss) becomes the first greyhound to break 33.00 for Henlow’s 550m trip when landing the Gold Cup in 32.94 for trainer Kevin Hutton and owner Mick Freshwater.
1967 The opening of betting shops, from which no betting tax is deducted (track punters pay 2.5%) sees attendances continue to fall. Figures for the first six months of the year show a 10% decline.
1989 The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection graphically describe the fate of greyhounds used in experimentation at Belfast University. (Warning – graphic detail to follow – Ed) “In laymen’s terms, what actually happened was that 119 greyhounds of both sexes were anasthetised and had either their fourth or fifth rib removed to expose the heart. Wires were then attached heart and the left coronary artery was tied. The dogs were then allowed to regain consciousness. After 24 hours, 32 of the dogs had died. Most suffered strokes, the rest failed to recover from the anaesthetic , haemorrhaged to death or suffered heart failure. Of the 87 dogs who survived the 24 hour period, six were destroyed because of severe wound infections, vomiting and dehydration. Another 15 died ‘suddenly and unexpectedly’ during the post operative week. The remainder of the dogs were all given electrical stimulations of the heart via the attached wires.” The BUAV claim that in excess of 300 greyhounds are used in experimentation annually.
2015 Wimbledon are still two years from closure but struggling for runners with around 140 dogs on the strength. In order to accommodate a first twelve race Saturday BAGS fixture, their Friday meeting is cut to eight races. Grading time is reduced and £35 is added in prize money for each race. Among the trainers who left is John Simpson who tells the Star that but for the opportunity at Romford, he would probably have exited the industry. He said: “At Wimbledon I had 40 on the strength but might only get 20 runners on at any weekend. I now have 120 dogs including 86 on the strength and I had 21 runners at one meeting recently. The whole thing has kicked on. I spent roughly £50,000 on the kennels which are now immaculate, and have between 30 and 40 paddocks. We have seven full time staff and six or seven part-timers but I can afford to do it because by income has increased five-fold since I came to Romford.”
1997 Mal Thomas whose track successes were complemented by training two Waterloo Cup winners is to hand in his licence. He states: “You have no life outside greyhound racing. It is sad but I can’t see any future in the industry.”
1957 Stewards allow Highway Tim to contest the final of the Key, just three nights after he is stolen and involved in a car accident. The Derby runner-up was one of three greyhounds stolen from the Walpole St Peter (Wisbech) kennel of Rosalie Beba. The three were found beside a wrecked van which had crashed into a dyke shortly after midnight. Highway Tim was found near the wreck uninjured. The other two were later found by police tracker dogs; one had lost a lot of blood. Police arrested Leslie George McCarthy of Watney Street, East London after he requested treatment for injuries at North Cambridgeshire Hospital. Highway Tim duly wins the Key Final by four and a half lengths.
1999 Yorkshire independent Kinsley make application to join the NGRC.
1961 The memoirs of Brigadier A C Critchley are published under the title of ‘Critch’. This amazing character was born in Canada but moved to Britain as a boy. He joined the Royal Flying Corp and became the youngest Brigadier General in the British Imperial Armies at the age of 27. In 1925 he met an American called Charlie Munn during a weekend break at Ford Manor, near Lingfield. Munn had a display of photos of greyhounds chasing a mechanical hare in Oklahoma city. He wrote: “It immediately occurred to me that this might prove to be the poor man’s racecourse.”
Critch, along with Munn (who owned rights to build the mechanical lure, secured from its inventor Owen Patrick Smith), Major L Dixon and retired Chief Constable William Gentle scraped £14,000 together and formed the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA). They borrowed another £5,000 from the bank and took a seven year lease on a site (annula rent £276) owned by Belle Vue Zoological Gardens and built a greyhound stadium. ‘Critch’ tells of the early struggles even before the first meeting when he had to persuade the bank to loan him a further £5,000 before the first meeting could take place.
They printed 20,000 programme for the first meeting on July 24 1926 but only 2,555 people turned up. It is now history that they paid back the full £10,000 within a month. In 1927 GRA become a public company and bought the White City stadium in London and then built neighbouring Harringay. ‘Critch’ reveals that they almost bought Wembley but he was concerned that it was ‘too far from London’ ‘Critch’ reveals some unique memories of the sport.
He recalled how the company were unsure if it would be illegal to operate a totalisator at a greyhound track. So they paid the owner of an independent track to install one and waited for legal action. When it came, and they won their case, they spent £250,000 putting the tote into all GRA tracks.
His recollection on Mick The Miller’s first English Derby: “I shall never forget that race. Mick was drawn on the outside, a pity, because he was a great railer.
“As they came to the first bend, Mick made his usual short cut with the result that he, and two other dogs were bowled over, leaving a dog called Palatinus to go on and win. Thank goodness my father was in the stewards box. He promptly sounded the horn for ‘no race’ . . in the re-run Mick won with ease.”
There were also memories of Tory Home Secretary Joynson Hicks who became a massive enemy of the sport stating, “I will stop this iniquitous thing”. Yet when questioned in the House of Commons, Hicks admitted that he had never received a police report into greyhound racing, no indeed had ever attended a greyhound meeting. However, the seeds were sown and greyhound racing would never fully recover from the 1934 Betting Act (restricting meetings) and the considerably more damaging 1960 Betting and Gaming Act.
‘Critch’ described greyhound racing as “the easiest sport in the world to run straight but also the easiest to run crookedly”. Interestingly, he determined that the most effective way of being crooked was by means of a corrupt hare driver.
‘Critch’ continued to pursue a business (he was Director General of BOAC) and political career, he was a (Tory MP during the passing of the 1934 Betting Act!) but following an illness lost his sight in 1953. He died in 1963.
1975 Derby winner Tartan Khan was paraded at Bletchley by owner Derek Law and trainer Gwen Lynds. The night was made even better when two of Khan’s littermates both won on the night. pic Derek Law collects the Derby trophy
