1991 Romford racing manager Jim Simpson is warned-off all greyhound tracks and trainers Paddy Coughlan and Bill Foley and their licences suspended indefinitely following the conclusion of ‘Romfordgate’. The stewards decided that Simpson, who had already been sacked by Corals, was guilty of manipulating races and betting on them. Senior steward Alan Fearn said to the two trainers: “This is a very serious case and in many ways a very sad case. From the evidence placed before them, the stewards have been made fully aware of the pressured exerted on you. “However, you are both vastly experienced men who have spent a lifetime in the sport and that makes your behaviour even more regrettable. But the whole of greyhound racing depends on the integrity of the people who participate, particularly at the sharp end.” Much of the NGRC case was brought about by tapes of telephone calls, believed to been a result of illegal line tapping. Simpson had been under suspicion for many months and police were later informed.
1960 Private trainer Phil Rees expands his operation by leaving his small yard in Epsom and takes over Paddy Keane’s range in Reigate. Among his first arrivals are pups bred by Linda Mullins’ sister Jean Chapelle.
2002 Catford scrap its meal tickets for kennel staff blaming tough trading conditions.
1933 The great hurdler Long Hop retires. He raced 85 times, winning 49 and coming second 19 times. He also got close to Mick The Miller’s winning sequence, when he won 16 races in a row.
1946 Wembley announce that George Beesley is to be in charge of its isolation kennel. The Empire Stadium operate a strict code whereby all new arrivals from Ireland must serve two weeks quarantine, in addition to any dogs considered off-colour who are immediately transferred into the care of Beesley and his staff. Staff in the isolation and racing kennels wear different coloured coats and are not allowed into each other’s kennels. Every dog in the isolation kennel has his temperature taken and monitored on a daily basis.
2011 Trainer Mark Wallis praises the GBGB’s new ‘Point of Registration’ sampling procedure following a positive test on recent Irish import Confident Ramona. The bitch had swabbed with the anabolic steroid Nandrolone following a trial at Yarmouth, but a sample taken at the time of registration showed that the drug was already in her system. At the following inquiry, the stewards decide to take no further action.
1958 A High Court doping case is adjourned when the key witness, kennelmaid Barbera Margaret Barker goes missing. A total of 11 defendants, including five kennelmaids are refused bail.
2002 Sir Nicholas Hill-Norton resigns as chairman of the BGRB after 28 months in charge (22 more than the previous occupant of the chair). Hill-Norton was regarded by many in the sport as one of the least effective and most invisible chairmen of recent memory. It is rumoured that he resigned following pressure from promoters who considered he was interfering with their best interests.
1949 The first photo-timing camera goes on trial at Wimbledon. It is unveiled by Mr WF Peacock, managing director of Instaprint Ltd, the company that introduced the photo finish camera.
1926 A report in the Daily Express describes a meeting at Belle Vue three months after the track opened: “There was far more betting than on any ordinary racecourse. I saw a woman with a baby in her arms laying her shillings. Children in their early teens betted as freely as their elders. Boys in school caps and knicker-suits, girls in hats with ribbons of secondary schools pushed their way from bookmaker to bookmaker asking odds and staking where they secured the best price.Working girls of the typist and shop-assistant class wagered by the half crown or five shillings. Admission prices were one shilling, half a crown or five shillings. There were six races, three on the flat and three hurdles events. There were 22,000 people present on the Saturday evening, a good proportion of them women and girls and a fair proportion of children. A representative of the American company which owns the patent rights of the device which makes racing possible forecast that within five years as many people would follow greyhound racing as were at the time interested in horse racing.” The report announced plans for new tracks at London’s White City, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds or Bradford and Brighton or Portsmouth. It added “This fact is certain. When greyhound racing spreads from its present headquarters in Manchester, there will arise a most intense controversy. Sermons will be preached against it because of the betting aspect of the game.”
1991 Nick Savva wins a first open at Milton Keynes with a recent Irish purchase. The winning time of 38.71 for the 620 metres is ordinary and the brindle is returned to Ireland for more schooling. She will eventually return as a brood. Her name is Mega Delight.
2003 GRA announce that they are to increase their tote retention from 27 to 29 per cent. They also ban laptops from their tracks to prevent punters playing on Betfair.
1979 Open race star Saucy Buck is retired to stud. Perhaps his greatest feat was that he won opens on 19 different tracks.
1949 The Animal Health Trust issue a gloomy forecast of their likelihood for eradicating Hard Pad. “We are working at the moment on Hard Pad, but it must be remembered that the problem is a very complex one, rather similar to Infantile Paralysis in the human field. If this is indeed the case, and we think it is, then we can look for no easy solution.”
1987 Terry Dartnall and Terry Atkins are to join Wembley. Tony Meek will take Atkins’ place at Oxford after leaving Swindon. Bob Hobbs is also joining Oxford to replace Bob Baker who was recently sacked.
1962 Actor Ivan Beavis, who plays Harry Hewitt in Coronation Street, and actress Doreen Keogh, who plays his wife Concepta, become owners at Belle Vue, six months after they owned by a fictional runner in the TV series.
1991 Queens University Belfast issue a statement denying that they use greyhounds for vivisection but admit that they have done so in the past on heart research.
1958 There are four Wembley trained runners in the Cesarewtich final and two of them dead heat for first place. Rylane Pleasure and Pigalle Wonder share the prize. It is the first time that a dead heat has been called in a classic final.
1933 Stamford Bridge are experimenting with sand. They spread 25 tons of ‘fine silvery’ sand on top of their turf with the intention of reducing the number of cut and sore pads.
2010 Britain’s biggest breeder Charles ‘Zigzag’ Pickering is fined £5,000 and warned off for irregularities relating to the retirement of 41 greyhounds. He was also found guilty of refusing, obstructing or hindering the investigation.
1988 Yarmouth 462 metre track record holder Ramtogue Dasher goes to stud giving breeders something to consider. He is out of Ramtogue Witch, though his sire, according to IGB records is ‘either’ Lauragh Six or Outer Mission.
1950 Mr L O Browne, effectively the first ever racing manager, dies at his London home. Browne “organised” the first meeting at Belle Vue. He then became White City’s first manager, before taking similar appointments at Harringay and New Cross.
1975 Gin & Jass (Kilbeg Kuda-Liberty Bell) is the second highest lot at Shelbourne sales at 800gns. Within the next 12 months the brindle will win the Pall Mall, Crayford Vase, Flying Four and Christmas Cracker. Owner Dave Drinkwater also snapped up the fourth priced Crossleigh Tulip for 750gns and she went on to land the ’76 Welsh Oaks
2011 The Greyhound Regulatory Board introduce a ban on the use of electrolytes in racing paddocks.
1946 The recent arrival at Catford of Cunning Gambler is taken as ominous by the racing press. Until now, no London tracks have allowed company owned dogs to race at them. Gambler is owned by Catford Stadium Ltd, and the press fear that track owned dogs will drive out private owners from the best races. Wembley immediately announce that no company owned runners will be accepted in opens. Conscious of the bad publicity, Catford choose a loophole that will be followed by others, as they transfer Gambler’s ownership into the name of a company director’s wife.
1960 Two men, Wilfred Ernest Whitehead and Gary Coleman Hart appear in court on charges of conspiring to cheat and defraud. They had paid Jean Ivy May, a kennel girl with Wembley trainer Ronnie Melville, to administer sausage meat laced with Chloretone to runners White Chariot and Peterspence. The dog ran twice and was unplaced each time. Ms May ultimately became scared and refused to cooperate further and the pair turned to a Northaw kennel girl who was offered £50 to dope several White City runner including Rosstown Genius who was due to contest the St Leger final. Unbeknown to the conspirators, the kennel girl informed the GRA’s chief security officer who urged the girl to stall the men while he informed the police. Both men were also charged with assault on police at the time they were arrested. Whitehead was sentenced to 15 months in prison, Hart received two years.
1988 Tragedy hits Rye House trainer ‘Boy’ Green when a kennel fire kills two brood bitches and 16 pups.
1938 White City introduce an innovative competition, the Right Hand Championship which is staged in a clockwise direction. It is won by Roeside Creamery in 29.60. The English Derby final the same year is won by Lone Keel in 29.62.
1962 GRA announce the identity of its new chairman. He is former Life Guards officer and old Etonian Major General Sir Miles W A P Graham KBE CB MC. The departing chairman Francis S Gentle CBE had been with the company since its formation but had been criticised by shareholder for a number of decision including recently selling the Harringay Arena.
1974 Lively Band becomes only the second dog ever to land the Irish Derby/Leger double. Own Pride was the first. He also won the English Derby consolation final and the Dundalk International taking his winning to over £13,000.
1977 Time finding enquiry of the year must go to Henlow grader Very Unique went to traps with a personal best of 31.35 and returned a 29.65 for the 484m.
2018 The most shocking news of the month is the sudden death of Sheffield Managing Director John Gilburn. A highly respected and liked member of the GBGB board of directors, John collapsed while collecting children from school and died shortly afterwards of a suspected heart attack.
A reminder of some of the tributes paid to John http://greyhoundstar.co.uk/tributes-john-gilburn/
