2006 Irish Greyhound Board chairman Paschal Taggart resigns after 11 years in office. The man considered to the architect of the boom in Irish greyhound racing had become increasingly irritated with John O’Donoghue, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. The battle between the two men had surfaced on numerous previous occasions with O’Donoghue forced to ask Taggart to continue in the job after a huge protest at the minister’s interference. Taggart, who never took a penny in salary or expenses, believes that O’Donoghue had undermined him when calling an independent enquiry into an incident where two doping cases were heard in-camera with no official announcement. The enquiry into Taggart’s role completely cleared him of acting improperly. However, when O’Donoghue replaced Taggart’s long term ally on the board, Cathal Curley, the chairman decided he longer wished to continue. During his time in office, Taggart saw crowds at Irish greyhound tracks exceed horse racing for the first time.
1965 Pat Dalton’s Lovely Chieftain (f d Knockhill Chieftain-Lovely Sister, Aug’63) trained by Ger McKenna, easily wins the final of the St Leger at Limerick by four lengths in 30.92 for the 550 yards.
2018 Solicitor Peter Cadman takes on the roles of chairman of the Greyhound Regulatory Board from the departed Robert Griffiths. Meanwhile John Coleman is elected as the practitioner director after winning 62% of votes in which only 23.5% of owners bothered to participate.
1975 Bill O’Sullivan, the man who has put together the NGRC Calendar since 1928, retires.
2007 GRA announce that Belle Vue has received its first BAGS contract.
1971 Irish racing loses one of its top administrators and greyhound owners with the death of John D Bruton, a director of The Sporting Press and Powerstown Park. His legacy will be carried on by his highly respected son Matty.
1959 It is unusual for greyhounds to have their names changed but only a week after Crazy Paracute and Bryans Hope contested the Derby Final, their names were changed to No Wonder and Sinonim. Of course, the first named would have his identity changed back when he retired and he would become one of the best known sires of all time. In fact, that isn’t really true. He became Crazy Parachute – the initial spelling, without the ‘H’ is the name he originally ran under.
2013 Monmore Puppy Derby winner Newinn Rocket is disqualified for deliberate interference in the heats of the William Hill Classic.
1947 Trainer Fred Farey takes out an injunction on owner Don Stewart following the latter’s decision to take Mondays News from his Shenfield (Essex) kennel to trainer Sidney Orton at Burhill. The previous year, News had won over £4,000 in prize money (equated to around £199,000) after wins in the English Derby, All England Cup, Cloth of Gold, Overture, and Bimingham Cup. Farey claimed that he was owed 50% of those winnings. It was the end of a remarkable fairytale of a dog who had been bought by Stewart for £65 and had been handed over to the unknown young trainer Farey “almost in despair” by his owner. Owner Stewart has his own back story. He is currently on bail charged with bigamy.
2005 The Swindon Produce Stakes proves a two kennel match between Peter Bailey and Nick Savva with three runners apiece. The £15K first prize goes to Bailey’s Lowkey with the three Savva runners taking 2nd-4th.
1960 July 30 The Betting Bill receives its Royal Assent in Parliament. It licences bookmakers and even makes provision for ‘betting shops’, the first of which is expected to open within a year. Greyhound track promoters are given rights to copyright their tote odds. The GRA’s Major General Sir Miles Graham welcomed the move at the company’s AGM. He said: “Since most of our meetings start later in the evening, the new legislation might be helpful to us. It might put an end to the growing number of illegal betting shops in the Manchester area, many of which we believe to remain open while we are operating.”
1983 Iowa becomes the 15th American state to legalise greyhound racing – though there is still to no track to race on.
1952 Monmore open racer Falcons Favourite was walked to High Level Station, Wolverhampton from the stadium kennels. He then went by train to Euston, and then onto the underground changing at Charing Cross and Plaistow before taking the trolley bus to West Ham. Unfussed by travels, the 2-1f won easily before beginning his his 140 mile return journey.
2018 As the media rights battle rages, Henlow and Central Park increase their fixtures to five and six meetings per week respectively.
1983 White City racing manager Bob Rowe produces figures justifying his decision to remove seeding from the ’83 English Derby. The number of greyhounds badly baulked fell from the previous (seeded) year from 24 to 14. The number of dog’s KO’d was down from eight to six, the reports of lameness fell from 13 to six, and the percentage of winning favourites rose to 47.8% from 41%.
1947 Aldridge’s late July sale saw 151 lots go under the hammer headed by recent Scurry Gold Cup winner Mischievous Manhattan. However George Flintham’s two year old was withdrawn at 950 guineas (equivalent to £49,700 today). The 11 highest lots each made more than 100 guineas (£5,200).
2006 Stadia UK are forced to quell local anxieties following the announcement of a planned redevelopment of the company’s 35 acre Abbey Meads site at Swindon. The plans include a new stadium plus houses, a care home and small business units. Recently appointed operations director Bill Glass issues a statement claiming greyhound racing would be safe under the plan.
1961 Palms Printer becomes the first English Derby winner to land the Scurry Gold Cup. In one of the greatest Scurry deciders of all time, he first had to overcome the 1960 & 61 winner Goreys Always. Drawn white, he led up and beat Jims Tour in 22.63 for Clapton’s 400 yards.
2006 Pelaw Grange reverts from five runner fields to stage its first six dog race in 18 years following substantial track improvements.
1952 Wembley racegoers are treated to a unique lap of honour by a Derby winner. Endless Gossip is joined on his home track by sire Priceless Border and dam Narrogar Ann, who is currently in whelp with another litter by Border.
1965 Bord na gCon have amended their rules of fighting to prevent dogs running instant clearing trials. From now on, no dog can trial within seven days of its disqualification. Also, it cannot run its second clearing trial on the same day as the first. Britain retains its ‘three trial’ rule.
2014 Deans Childs moves kennel from Ockendon into the range vacated by recently retired Alison Ingram.
1982 GRA announce that they will experiment with trap draws in graded competitions at four of their tracks over a two month period.
1947 The owners of the NGRC track at Cleadon in Durham have agreed to allow privately owned dogs to race at their track though they must be in the kennels of one of the stadium’s employed trainers. Seven tracks still operate under the ‘exclusively stadium owned dogs’ rule.
2018 Gemma Davidson’s Crayford range is on lock down after a suspected case of canine haemorrhagic pneumonia.
1963 British breeding losing a respected breeder with the death of E D Hughes. A chemistry professor at London University, his runners carried the “Gower” prefix.
1959 The National Greyhound Racing Society, a pre-runner to the BGRB, are considering whether to alter the deductions to tote pools. As things stand at present, there is a 16% deduction, of which the Government takes 10% and the promoters take 6%.
1986 July 26 Belle Vue celebrate 60 years of racing, and the highlight of the evening is the Diamond Jubilee Super Marathon over 853 metres. Scurlogue Champ is a hot 1-4 favourite, but he does not put on one of his super shows, merely going round in a workmanlike way to win by 1 1/4 lengths, beating 9-2 second favourite Sneaky Liberty in a moderate 55.29.
1972 The final of the Scurry Gold Cup at Clapton and Mr and Mrs Grant’s Dont Gambol (w bd d Prairie Flash-One For Minnie, Feb 68) is bidding to win the classic race for the third year in a row. But Cricket Bunny (bk d Printers Prince-Cricket Lady, Feb 69) trained by Joe Booth, spoils the treble by flashing away from trap 3, with Dont Gambol from trap 4 also very fast away. Cricket Bunny holds the inside line in a thrilling race with Dont Gambol trying his hardest to catch Bunny, but to no avail. He goes down by 2¼ lengths in 22.77 for the 400 yards race.
1927 July 27 Inside the Kursaal amusement park at Southend greyhound racing is held for the first time. The track is around the football pitch with a standard distance of 500 yards and an outside hare. A large crowd of 5,000 turn out to see the track officially opened by the deputy mayor Alderman H A Dowsett, and the first race worth £10 to the winner goes to R T Dawson’s Self Starter. The 2-1 favourite wins by eight lengths in 28.60.
1963 Dromin Glory, one time favourite for the English Derby but eliminated in the first round is withdrawn from the first round of the Welsh Derby in bizarre circumstances. The local stewards had been warned by the NGRC that Glory had recently trialled more than two pounds heavier than his most recent racing weight and would therefore require a further trial. A pre-meeting trial was hastily arranged to enable the dog to compete in the first round but he arrived late for kennelling.
2015 Michael Dunphy announces that Ace Hi Rumble is to be retired from stud duties aged 13. The Australian import made the top ten of the sire’s table with leading progeny including Billys Bullet (litter brother) Touch Tackle, Derby winner Rio Quattro, Droopys Cain, Forest Twilight, Volcano and Leamaneigh Turbo.
1982 Journalist John Martin uncovers an interesting statistic concerning the Irish Derby. The 66 heats, including the entire 1981 event and the first 24 heats of the ’82 event, there had only been one winner from trap one.
1974 July 13 No not an unlucky Friday, but an equally bad Saturday for owner Frank Boswall and trainer Joe Bennett. Their greyhound Soft Light (The Grand Light-Knockmoylan Kate, May’72) is stolen from a motorway service station on the M4 after finishing third to Dankie in the final of the Welsh Derby at Cardiff Arms Park. The incident happens at about 11.15 some two hours after the race, in the Leigh Delamere service station. The thieves do not bother with Black Banjo, last year’s Laurels winner, who finished second to Dankie and is 20 yards away in Barney O’Connor’s estate car. It seems they know what they want, jemmy the back door open, and are away with Soft Light in the time it takes Joe Bennett and his driver John Hart to have a cup of tea and a pie. Owner Frank Boswall circulates details of Soft Light’s ear markings and all distinguishing marks to all the independent tracks in the country and puts up a £5,000 reward. He says: “Soft Light is such a small dog, he only weighs 59-60 lbs and will immediately attract attention if he wins in fast times at independent tracks.” Soft Light, who finished fourth to Jimsun in the English Derby, is scratched from the Select Stakes at Wembley, which is run on July 23, because under NGRC rules he is required to be in his trainer’s hands for seven days before the race. She is never recovered
2018 Trainers rep Peter Harnden is critical of the GWA when no wide reserve is allocated for the RPGTV Select Stakes which is then reduced to five runners following the withdrawal of Whoops Jack. But the problems don’t end there. Red jacketed Shaneboy Freddie checks out at the first bend and collides with The Other Reg and Innocent Times with all three failing to finish. The race goes to Brinkleys Poet from Sporting Dave. It is the end of Shaneboy Freddie’s 108 race career with a wrist injury. But far worse is to follow for trainer Kevin Boon when just nine days later, kennel star Murrys Act is put to sleep after fracturing a hock in the semi finals of the Grand Prix at Sunderland. Kevin Hutton’s Golden Sprint winner Forest Chunk also broke a hock at the same meeting. Despite some raw emotions on the night, trainer Rab McNair states that he and Pat Rosney walked the Sunderland circuit before racing and found it to be in good order.
1957 Kilcaskin Kern wins the Irish St Leger but within minutes is whisked off to Shannon Airport. The October puppy who has won eight of his nine races is flown to London Airport where he is met by trainer Tony Dennis. The plan is that the Cork 525 yard record holder will run in the Cloth Of Gold which takes places exactly one week later. To comply with NGRC rules, the dog must be handled by a licence holder within seven days of the race. Now, they simply have to give him three trials before the first round at Charlton. He trials over 440 yards at Wandsworth on Tuesday, over 400 yards at Park Royal on Wednesday and over 415 yards at Charlton on Thursday. He duly makes his debut over 600 yards on the Saturday afternoon card. He finishes second beaten a length and a half in a calculated 35.35. A week later the diminutive 59 pound (26.7kg) dog wins his semi in 35.17 before going on to win the final in 34.74.
