1984 White City has the third highest tote turnover for a Derby Final meeting when £255,498 is bet on the night (equiv of £920,000 today). There were 259,000 forecast units on the Derby final. The attendance for the final year at White City was up by 11.8 percent.
1976 Dancing Dolores seemed destined to go through her career without a major open race win. Having reached the finals of the Gold Collar, St. Leger, the Milton Keynes Derby (twice) and the Golden Jacket, she was eliminated from the heats of the Langford Stakes at Crayford. However, as the fourth placed runner, she was drafted back into the event as a reserve. She then won her semi final and final for owner Mrs Dolores Gaskin and trainer Tom Reilly. The daughter of Monalee Champion eventually went for breeding and produced Devilish Dolores who won both the Oaks and the Puppy Oaks for trainer and breeder Ernie Gaskin snr.
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.
2012 Crayford plan a special Diamond Jubilee Tea meeting for the Bank Holiday Tuesday – before realising that they are not actually racing that day.
1972 Former Wembley trainer Jim Syder dies of lung cancer in a Dublin Hospital. He leaves his body to medical science. Son of a former Wembley handler (also Jim), Syder trained at Southend for 11 years but took his father’s position in 1945. Jim junior’s ambition was to emulate his father who had trained the 1937 Derby winner Wattle Bark. This he achieved when sending out Pigalle Wonder to land the 1958 decider.
1983 Monmore begin experimenting with eight runner races.
1999 The BGRB announces the formation of a new fund to assist trainers. Its first cash allocation is £150,000.
1976 Bord na gCon are to hold an enquiry after the fastest first round winner Thingame finished last, beaten a distance, in the second round of the McAlinden Gold Cup at Shelbourne Park. A 4-5f when betting opened, she returned at 7-4. She was reported lame after the race with a broken toe, but a crowd disturbance resulted in the rest of the meeting being abandoned.
1966 Faithful Hope overturns pre-race predictions by landing the English Derby for trainer Paddy Keane and owners Pauline Wallis and Sir Robert Adeane. Generally rated as the slowest breaker in the decider, the brindle rocketed from the boxes with a running style only once previously witnessed when he led from trap to line in a Scurry semi final. Once clear, there was no catching a dog who stayed 600 yards. He crossed the winning line in 28.52, the fastest Derby ever on ray timing and only two spots slower than the hand timed effort by Endless Gossip. The winner’s prize of £7,728 (equivalent to £160K today) is a record for the event. It was boosted by the entry fees of £8,000 from the first ‘open ended entry’ Derby. Promoters GRA have contributed £3,000. The Irish Derby carries a first prize of £2,000.
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.
1978 Shawfield fail for the second time in a couple of months to fill their William King Cup: a one-off, five-runner event with £1,000 to the winner.
1986 The NGRC decide to take no further action against Middlesbrough trainer Alec Race following the death of three of his greyhounds. They had been wormed with a pig wormer.
2012 Unbeaten Mr Chow emulates his dam Flying Winner by landing the Regency at Hove.
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.
1980 Bill Black if offering £250 for the return of Matchstick who was taken from the carpark at Aldershot Stadium.
1966 GRA up the kennel fees at their Northaw Kennels by seven shillings a week to two pounds two and six (£2.12 1/2p). Index lined to £54.
1950 The final of the London Cup at Clapton will be preceded by a display by three Alsatian war dogs. In addition to obedience work they will jump through hoops, run through a tunnel of fire, and remove items of clothing from ‘dead’ soldiers.
1973 June 30 In the last race at Brighton, a ‘world record’ is set when Easy Investment (Brandon Jungle-Fallen Ribocco, Jun 70) records 28.17 for the 525 yards. The previous best for the trip was 28.26 set by Super Rory (Yellow Printer-Laharn Beauty, Oct 70) in the semi-finals of the 1972 English Derby.
1981 Dungannon’s 18 year old 525 track record is broken by Leitrim Solo with a run of 29.06.
1998 Racing Post moves from its base in Raines Park to Canary Wharf.