1947 Manchester White City racing manager Mr E Dickinson is so confident in the ability of his local tracker Lacken Invader, that he arranges an open race to enable the best dogs in the area to take him on. When the race fails to fill, Dickinson arranges a “six dog challenge” with £200 to the winner – that’s an equivalent of £8,440 index linked. Although Dickinson plans free entry for all the runners, he is forced to charge entry fees according to NGRC rule 107 which insists on a minimum of 10 shillings entry fee for all non-graded races.
1962 Catford introduce an entirely new concept to totalisator betting – the win jackpot. It will be staged over four legs with punters able to exchange winning tickets for bets in subsequent races. It is an enormous success with attracting a pool of over £1,500. Nine winning tickets are each worth £145 (index linked to roughly £3,262).
1997 Shelbourne boss Noel Hynes announces that crowds are up by 57% for the first four months of the year. He says: “Our average crowd on a Wednesday and Thursday is between 700-1,000. Saturday’s is between 1,500 and 2,000.”
1981 Francie Murray lands a four-timer in the qualifying round of the Derby: Knockash Rover (29.65), Ders Available (30.24) Calandra Champ (29.65), and Hurry On Bran (29.66). Other interesting winners: Killahora Cha (29.97), Upland Tiger (29.55), Precious Time (29.42), Rahan Ship (30.13) Echo Spark (29.65) plus litter brother and sister In Flight (29.97) and Kasco Lady (29.84). Most interesting loser: Parkdown Jet, a well beaten third – but open to improvement!
1932 May 25 Omagh have their first meeting in aid of the Tyrone County Hospital, and the first race, the Sir Basil Brooke Cup, over 375 yards is won by M Smyth’s Strangeways. The 2-1 joint favourite beats Mr V C Devlin’s Dunoon, also 2-1 by half a length in a time given as “22 and 5/8.”
1959 After picking up a toe injury a month prior to the event ante post Pigalle Wonder slips from 4-1 to 6-1 to win the English Derby. Eventual winner Mile Bush Pride is the new 4-1 chance. He will be followed home in a month’s time by Snub Nose (20-1), Crazy Paracute (correct spelling 25-1), Coolkill Racket (7-1), Brians Hope (14-1) and Dancing Sheik.
1964 Romford grader Kilnaglory Ally picks up a decent graded double in double quick time. With the track short of dogs, the 460 yard grader wins on a Monday night and then again 24 hours later. Around a dozen dogs are asked to turn out twice in successive nights including 650 yard stayers..
1991 Fly Cruiser is retired to stud after his win over Big Cloud in the Guinness 600 at Shelbourne Park. Ann Power’s black clocked 33.31, having set a new track record of 33.00 in the semis.
1975 Walthamstow’s racing office react angrily when the Grand Prix only attracts 17 outside entries despite a £4,000 (index linked – £42K) prize money pool. They instantly cancel all minor opens.
1959 Young Irish pup Crazy Paracute makes his British debut in a Select Trialstake at Wembley (note the spelling). He narrowly beats Snub Nose in 29.58. They will finish third and second respectively in the forthcoming English Derby Final
1985 Shawfield trainer Edna Armstrong sends out eight winners on a twelve race card.
1947 ‘Four bob’ tote units would equate to around £6 at modern day values, but pay-outs were big too. When a 6-1 chance led home a 9-2 chance in a graded race at Rochester, a winning forecast ticket paid £76-13-6 or roughly £2,360.
1984 Britain’s champion sprinter Upton Rocket wins a £3,000 match against Peaceful Bruno by three lengths at Rye House.
1958 Fodda Champion sets some unusual landmarks when winning the Scottish Grand National Final. When winning the final, he reduced his own Powderhall 500 yard track record which he had set in the heats. Jimmy Jowett’s dog had achieved exactly the same feat when winning the 1957 decider. In his most recent victory, he led home Midnight Cossack. A week earlier the pair had occupied the forecast places in the English Grand National.
1947 Charlton bookies are so annoyed when the track declare a no-race that they refuse to make a book for the re-run.
1985 Lulus Hero wins the first running of a new event, the £8,000-to-winner (equiv to £26K today) John Power Blue Riband. The Gunner Smith trained 7-2 chance covers the Wembley 490 metres in 29.23. Runner-up Fearless Champ had set a new track record in the heats of 28.98.
1990 The NGRC abandon their track injuries survey after some tracks refused to take part.
1947 Monmore have invited an Irish agent to bring over a small group of dogs to trial around the track. Local owners will be invited to buy them. Unsold dogs will return to Ireland. The track describe the sale method as “on approval”.
1947 Walthamstow Borough Council are objecting to the renewal of the Betting Licence for Walthamstow Stadium. The Daily Express reports “they had interviewed the Mayor, and one of his reasons was that a councillor had 50 minutes wait for a trolley bus on race day. It is further said that the local council wants the land for housing and have a homes waiting list of 8,000 people.” Track operator Charles Chandler concedes that the track regularly races in front of 15,000 paying patrons”. Chandler also drew attention to the flood risk at the site. “There is about 6 acres of stadium property, and it was only made suitable for a race track by raising the running course four feet, as the ground was so low lying. It I liable to flooding and a special pump was early installed to maintain a constant drainage of surface water.” A separate newspaper article, which describes Walthamstow as “the modernly appointed dog track in the country” reveals that the annual rateable value of the site is £20,000 (£844,000 in modern terms).
