REMEMBER WHEN: JUNE

1991 In a statement to a committee of MPs, BAGS spokesman Tom Kelly divulges that Hackney is paid £4,000 per meeting, or £400 per race (if televised on SIS the figure was £4,900). He also agrees that the average betting shop turnover per race was around £200,000. Referring to the £900 broadcasting bonus, David Sumberg, the Tory MP for Bury said: “This £900 bugs me, it is so small. Kelly responded “That is the fee which is paid by BAGS to SIS. The tracks are satisfied with the fee they are getting. That is why there have been 22 applications from tracks for contracts this year.” That number could rise to 23 with Walthamstow admitting that they will apply for the following year for the first time.

1971 The NGRC introduce two changes of rules relating to trap draws. From now on, greyhounds can be seeded ‘wide’ in open races. Also, all open race trap draws must be made in public or at the NGRC offices.

1968 Not Flashing is an interesting entry at the Anglo-Irish sales. The dog, who is not present, get a top bid of 1,700gns, some 300gns short of his reserve. The brother of Grand National winner Ballintore Brave would make even bigger headlines three days later when he contests an English Derby semi and is disqualified for fighting.

1984 Independent Blackburn shuts down on June 1. The closure was inevitable following Tesco’s purchase of the Hill Street site two years earlier. Their subsequent victory over the planners led to the demise of Bolton’s sister track. Meanwhile Northumberland flap Ashington re-opens after many years of closure.

1960 West Ham trainer Tom Johnston wins 13 out of 14 races spread over two meetings.

1956  Rayhham Park greyhound track in the USA unveils the latest member of its publicity staff. He is former world champion Rocky Marciano who is on a $10,000 for his one year contract.

1940 For the first and hopefully the last time, the English Derby is run  at two different tracks. The first round heats are run at on June 15 at White City. The second and remainder of the competition are staged at Harringay.

1985 A report commissioned by Bord na gCon into the management of the Irish Coursing Club makes a string of serious allegations of mismanagement which are refuted by administrator Joe Fitzpatrick. One of the most serious allegations made by the accountants related to “an expenses paid trip to Honolulu made by an ICC member of staff.” In a reply in the Sporting Press, Fitzpatrick explained that the ICC had accepted an invitation for a delegate – himself – to attend the World Greyhound Conference in Australia. It had been necessary to stay for two days in Hawaii in order not to breach the regulations of his Apex airline ticket.

1991 Ger McKenna receives a two year ban from British coursing after two of his runners test positive. They are Waterloo Plate winner Island Oak and Go Speedy Go.

1934 Aldridges Sales, at Upper St Martins Lane, London,, has a fine selection of greyhounds for sale, including Mahers Prospect, who in 1931 at odds of 20-1 beat Mick The Miller (1-3), in the semi-final of the Cesarewitch at West Ham.

1983 Five track records are broken on Derby final night. Pagan Pansy absolutely vaporised the 500 metres hurdles clock when taking it from 30.09 to 29.88. Soon afterwards and with a fifth hurdle added, Sir Winston reduced the record for the 500 metre chase to 30.38. Ceili Lass took the 680m clock to 40.75, while over the extra 50 metres, Minnis Matador set a new best of 43.82. The highlight though was the 28.95 run by Hay Maker Mack over the Derby course. Derek Knight’s dog was 14 spots inside Parkdown Jet’s previous best and 45 spots faster than Derby winner I’m Slippy.

1949 Streets After Midnight, winner of the 1948 St Leger collapses and dies following a trial at White City.  A post mortem reveals heart failure.

1974 Owner Tom ‘Todos’ Unwin’s plan to build a greyhound track at the Cartershatch Athletics stadium – home of the Enfield Harriers – is rejected by the local council.

1961 Big Gossip, a son of English Derby winner Endless Gossip, has won 17 of his first 18 races in the USA.

1928 June 27 The first track in Cork opens at the Agricultural Show Grounds Monahans Road, where a crowd of 15,000 see four flat and two hurdle races. Four favourites are successful, the first being the county’s first winner, Green Gown. The daughter of  Beaded Dick and Green Mantle wins the £8 first prize in the Fermoy Stakes for owner R O’Gorman.

2002  Scans reveal that Pat Rosney’s Pilot Alert cracked a hock in the English Derby Final.

1947 White City’s tote returns on the Derby final itself come to £38,600 – of which the GRA are allowed by law to keep 6%. Over the 12 races, the company netted close to £15,000. Index linked, the two figures are £1.92m and £746,000.

1985 Councils are panicking following a report into the Hillsborough fire. Swansea Council refuse the renew the licence of the local independent track until the town’s Chief Fire Officer returns from holiday and files a report. A report submitted by his deputy stating that Swansea’s all metal/concrete stand does not constitute a fire risk, is binned.

2010 Midway Tomsscout becomes the only greyhound other than Scurlogue Champ to win a second TV Trophy when she triumphs at 33-1 in the Kinsley decider.

1932 Guideless Joe breaks the National record for 400 yards at Reading, in 22.00. Two months later, he wins the Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park.

1968 Jim Howard, the owner of Gold Cup winner Poor Mick, reveals that all the dog’s earnings are paid directly to the children’s charity Dr Barnardo’s. In two years he wins over £3,600, worth around £78K at current values.

1949 The English and Irish Grand National winners Blossom Of Annagurra and Cappagh Chieftain meeting in a White City hurdle open. The race goes to the English winner ‘Blossom’ who wins by 10 lengths for Ramsgate trainer Sherry.

1975 Midway through the eight first round heats of the English Derby, a 730 metre challenge match is run between. Mr D Allen & J Howlett’s Glin Bridge and Mr R Smyth and D Toomey’s Lizzies Girl.  The £250 a side with £250 added by GRA promotions (£750 plus trophy) event goes the George Curtis Brighton trained Glin Bridge.  The 4-11 chance makes it 14 wins in a row, as he always leads the privately trained 7-4 shot Lizzies Girl, who earlier in the year had won the TV Trophy over the 815 metres at Wolverhampton.  This was Glin Bridge’s first attempt at 730 metres and although Lizzies Girl was gradually gaining ground, she was three lengths behind at the line in 44.03, a new track record.

2010 Beaten Derby favourite Toomaline Jack is quoted as the 4-5 ante post favourite to land the William Hill Grand National. He adds the hurdle record (28.96) to his flat track record in the heats and goes to traps at 2-5f for the final. However, he fails to finish in the final after sustaining a career ending gracillis injury. The race goes to 8-1 chance Plane Daddy.

1937 Edwin Baxter’s Entry Badge (Jamie-Beaded Nora, Jun 24), winner of the first ever English Derby in 1927, has died at a ripe old age of 13.

2012 Tony Taylor is the latest handler to leave Wimbledon. Four months after Nora McEllistrim departed for Hove, Taylor is to join Sittingbourne.

2006 Leading hurdler Druids Mickey Jo is retired after injury a wrist and a gracilis muscle. The son of Top Honcho won the Racing Post Maiden Derby on the flat. Over hurdles, he broke four track records and won the Springbok and the Champion Hurdle.

1971 Trainer Henry Kibble is to leave Oxford to join Bristol.

1949 A report suggests that gambling on all sports bar football will have fallen by around a third since the peak betting year of 1946 where tote betting at greyhound tracks reached £199m. Horse race courses, which have not been taxed in the same way, report of 25% increase in tote betting.

1960 Members of the Northern Ireland Greyhound Owners & Breeders Association (NIGOBA) decide to boycott one of the Northern tracks in protest that neither Celtic Park or Dunmore pay appearance money. On the toss of a coin, they choose Celtic Park who were due to stage the first round of the Trigo Cup. The Dunmore management decide to bar all the owners who boycotted Celtic Park. In response, NIGOBA boycott Dunmore who receive only 17 entries for a seven race card. The managements threaten to close both tracks until the dispute is resolved.

2018 Irish Derby runner-up and Scottish Derby finalist Black Farren badly breaks a hock in a trial at Crayford. The leg is saved by vet Stefano Malegori. Three days later, the kennel’s English Derby finalist Bruisers Bullet chips a bone in a wrist at Nottingham. Thankfully another Wallis star, Rubys Rascal, retires for less urgent reasons after completing 96 races, the highlight of which was victory in the 2017 St.Leger.

2008 Newcastle trainer Barry Clements is sacked by the track in acrimonious circumstances. The trainer claims that he was dismissed for withdrawing dogs which were due to trial or race on heavy going. However track boss Joe O’Donnell insists that Clements was giving his marching orders because of the poor condition of a number of his greyhounds when presented for racing.

1954 The final of the English Derby is a triumph for Wembley when  they have five of the six runners. The result sees them take the first four places with Pauls Fun (8-13f) leading home Lesley Ash (33-1), Title Role (3-1) and Clever Count (33-1). Ardskeagh Ville (100-8), trained at Catford, finishes fifth and the other Wembley runner Ashcroft Boy is sixth.

1972 Tom Stanley, boss at the Rayleigh, the first NGRC track to race on a sanded circuit, buys the turf from recently closed West Ham. It will be sent to daughter Janet Tite who is building a new racing kennel.

1991 Adebt, a lowly grader at Bluffs Run in the USA is honoured by the track after passing his 300^th race. Trainer Bill Henry said: “He has always taken care of himself. He is not a fast dog, but a track-smart dog.”

1961 One of the greatest sires of all time, Champion Prince dies at owner Dan Maher’s kennel in Tipperary, a month short of his 12^th birthday. Bred by Joe Fitzpatrick of Templemore, Maher bought the dog (and his amazing sister Vandado) for £100 after a trial at Thurles. He went on to break 30.00 nine times. Among his progeny were English Derby winners Pigalle Wonder and The Grand Canal, Irish Derby winner Sir Frederick, and Waterloo Cup winner Old Kentucky Minstrel – plus Prince Of Bermuda, Duet Leader, Northern King etc. Prince is buried under an apple tree in Maher’s back garden.

2001 Sheffield opens its new entrance and illuminated frontage – which is reputed to have cost around £250,000. The BGRF is criticised in some quarters for its 50% funding of the project.

1959 The owners of Merry May announce that their ex-Hove racer has finally succumbed to old age. Reckoned to have been the country’s oldest greyhound she was 17 years and one month old.

1959 Owner Noel Purvis parades Derby winner Mile Bush Pride in front of a Derby crowd of 41,000.

1959 When Mile Bush Pride crossed the White City winning line in the English Derby Final, he created history for owner Noel Purvis. The millionaire businessman became the only owner to win all the racing classics. His first winner was in the 1954 Laurels (Coolkill Chieftain). The following year was the Grand National (Barrowside), the St Leger (Title Rock) and Cesarwitch (Gulf Of Darien). In 1956 he added the Gold Collar (Ponsford), Scurry (Belingas Customer) and Oaks (First But Last). In 1958 there was another Leger (Barrys Prince), with Mile Bush Pride landing ‘the big one’. Pride also landed a second Cesarewitch to be followed by three years later by Prairie Flash in the same competition. (The Grand Prix did not hold classic status until the last 1960s).