1958 Nine year old English Derby winner Endless Gossip is sold to wealthy Miami breeder Joan Hunt for an undisclosed figure. The son of Derby winners Priceless Border and Narrogar Ann was at the end of his stud career but nevertheless threw one of the greatest American racers of his era and Hall Of Fame inductee Big Gossip.
1998 Swaffham promoter Maurice Kirby is fined £1,000 by the NGRC for ‘failing to keep accepted security procedures’. The fine and severe reprimand follow a stewards inquiry into a 23 length win by Clonminch Boy at the track.
1975 Currently flying on the open race circuit with four wins in a row is the strapping British bred female Sabina Sparky whose most recent victory was achieved with a racing weight of 34.2kg.
2000 Oxford give out the wrong result of a photo finish and don’t realise their error until checking result sheets half an hour after the race.
1961 The Totalisator is introduced at Limerick and is a massive hit. On the fourth race the forecast dividend to 10 winning ticket holders is £16 16s to a 2s stake.
2011 For the first time, greyhound trainers can now officially administer a carefully controlled group of medicaments within seven days of a trial or race. The list of products prescribed in the IADMC review include Dettol, ferric chloride, hibbitane, potassium permangonate, Savlon, Sudocrem, petroleum jelly and wound powders (not containing insecticide or antibiotic).
1959 Bobby Sox, being transferred from Ramsgate to Portsmouth dies in a bizarre accident on Charing Cross railway bridge. The dog escapes from a porter and after evading trains attempts to jump the 25 feet from the bridge into York Road.
1940 Bombardier ‘Sam’ from the Royal Horse Artillery is on his way back to his camp in East Tilbury having commandeered one of the GRA greyhound transporter vans from their kennels at Northaw. His regiment had lost all their vehicles when leaving Dunkirk on the last day before the German army re-took the beaches. The young soldier from Derry would be shown his first litter of greyhound pups, by Ataxy out of Greta Renee, not that it meant much to him. He had no interest in greyhounds. He returned to France as a Sergeant Major on ‘D-Day plus one’, and on being demobbed, returned home to Ireland. He became friends with James Magee, the owner of Lifford track and decided to take some greyhounds back to England. More followed, including a dog sold to English businessman Frank Sanderson who persuaded the Irishman to be kennel manager at a new kennel in Kent. Sam ‘Paddy’ Milligan and Beaverwood Country Club never looked back.
2010 Compass Mikey completes the set when winning at Lifford. He has now won at every track in Southern Ireland – some 54 wins in 152 outings.
1988 Bristol trainer Mary Baber has her runners for the afternoon meeting withdrawn and her licence suspended after a stipendiary steward visits her licensed kennel finds no staff or greyhounds.
1975 A strike by the Irish Greyhound Owners & Breeders Federation sees Shelbourne cards decimated. The owners are striking over Bord na gCon’s refusal to allow them to stage ‘members only’ sweepstakes at the track.
1996 The development plan for the new £130m Wembley Stadium show that greyhound racing will not be included.
2009 Keith Hallinan is unveiled as Wimbledon’s new GM. The former Sittingbourne boss takes over from the semi-retired Stan Wolfe.
2000 Belle Vue bookie Ben Holmes is robbed at the point of a shotgun outside his home in Sheffield. It is the second time that Holmes has been robbed within two years.
1975 An application by GRA to develop part of the 160 acre Northaw site as a gold club, driving range and carpark is turned down by Welwyn/Hatfield district council.
