1963 In an interview, the great Sidney Orton reveals some of the trials and tribulations experienced by the industry in its early days. He says: “I don’t think many of us thought it would last. I didn’t think that greyhounds would carry on chasing that mechanical hare. “But they did and out of the original complement at Burhill made up of coursing greyhounds, only a small number in fact gave up chasing the lure. “We were farming in Norfolk – coursing was our hobby – and I sold 17 dogs to run in the first greyhound meeting at Belle Vue, Manchester in 1926. We got £10 each for them and £170 was a lot of money then. “Times were tough on the land then – they didn’t look after farmers when the first war ended like they did after the second one. Then one day, one of my friends said, ‘Why don’t you try to get a job at one of those greyhound tracks?’ That’s how I came to Burhill.” Sidney remembers those early Wimbledon days, before Mr WJ Cearns took over the stadium, when the first owners ran short of money. When all the lighting, heat and water were cut off to the kennels and bungalow. But thankfully, he held out. On another topic he recalled the day he finally bought Ballyhennessy Sandhills after prolonged bargaining with the dog’s Irish owner. In those days, there was a 40 per cent import duty on imported greyhounds. To make matters worse, the Customs and Excise officers tried to claim that the dog was worth £4,000. Sidney recalls: “There were even questions in the House of Commons on just how much duty we had paid.”
Sidney Orton with Wimbledon’s most famous runner – Mick The Miller
1932 There are currently six London tracks racing during March. Wimbledon are one of four tracks racing on Wednesdays – though they are well spread out around the Capital at Wembley in the west, Harringay in the north and West Ham in the east of the city. The Plough Lane track also race every Friday and Saturday. Each Wimbledon card is for seven races, quite often to include two four-runner hurdle events. A top heat hurdle event pays £15 to the winner – equivalent at today’s values of £885.
1934 Primrose Ann, five-year-old daughter of Mr and Mrs Arundel H Kempton will parade with Mick The Miller before an inter-track race between Gloucester and Wimbledon at the Longlevens track.
1935 The first winner of Wimbledon’s Gold Cup over 500 yards hurdles in 1929, Honeymans Last, has died after a long illness. Whelped in Mar 26, the nine-year-old was known as The Growler, for during his racing days he had a habit of growling at his opponents, frequently frightening them. During his brilliant track career he broke 10 track records including four world records, over 500 to 700 yards. He was owned by G W Drewett, the chairman of Brighton stadium.
1950 Wimbledon are to remember the stadium’s owner/builder, the late William John Cearns, with an annual open race named after him. The first event will be staged in 1951.
1950 Ballymac Ball produces one of the greatest performances ever seen at Wimbledon in the final of the Spring Cup. The 1-6f set a new 500 yard track record of 27.97 when winning by 10 lengths.
1954 47 punters shared a record pay out after 30,761 units were invested in Wimbledon’s place eliminator pool. Any punter who successfully named the first or second in seven consecutive races collected £54-19-6 (equivalent to £1,380) for their two bob.
1954 An optimistic Wimbledon owner names a greyhound after the big talking point of the day, the possibility that Chancellor Butler will reduce the betting tax on greyhound tracks. Butlers Budget seems fortuitously named refused to chase.
1957 Trainer Sidney Orton has all six runners in an S6 graded race at Wimbledon. It goes to 11-4 second favourite Velvet Cloak who wins by four and a half lengths. The beaten favourite (evens) finishes third.
1958 Locally trained Christopher Hemley (six years and nine months old) wins the £75 to winner Sixth Veterans Championship at Wimbledon. The oldest in the field at seven years and one month old, Kensington Partridge, finishes fifth. The winner had recently been entered in a sales trial, but when the bidding only reached £30, trainer Sidney Orton persuaded his owner to withdraw the dog.
1958 Wimbledon apply for a liquor licence which will allow all patrons to imbibe. At present, only members of the owners club, or their guests, can be served alcoholic liquor.
1958 The National Greyhound Racing Society announce a deal with BBC’s Sportsview programme to broadcast a brand new competition. A panel comprising of John Adlridge (NGRS), Percy Brown (GRA), John Joliffe (Wembley) and Ken Guy (Wandsworth) will select the 18 runners for heats at Perry Barr, Powderhall and Bristol. The races will all be held over 500 yards with the final, worth £1,000 to the winner, to be held at Wimbledon. The event, which will be known as The Greyhound Television Trophy, is hailed by the racing press as “more important than the English Derby”.
1959 Wimbledon’s security staff disturb a man breaking into trainer George Waterman’s Burhill kennel. He had gained access via a skylight which had previously been considered too small for the purpose. The man evades capture and all Waterman’s dogs are vomited to check whether they have been doped. Nothing untoward is found and the dogs are all passed fit by the stadium vet. Wimbledon re-introduce a £500 reward offer for information leading to a conviction of anyone attempting to dope greyhounds.
1959 Wimbledon stage their first graded hurdle race in a year. They blame a prejudice against putting dogs over jumps for the lack of hurdlers.
1959 The Wimbledon management announce plans to rebuild Burhill Kennels at a cost of around £60,000 – roughly £1.1m at current rates. Quite a figure, even at the time given there were only 200 dogs kennelled there. In addition to replacing the six ranges of kennels, plans for the 34 acre site include a schooling track with identical dimension to the Plough Lane circuit.
1959 Winning Card, just six, wins the £75 Veterans Championship at Wimbledon. He narrowly defeats the game Rochester entry Tudor Crest by a neck. Crest, just four months short of his seventh birthday in contesting his 328th race.
1961 Places in Wimbledon’s annual veterans contests are so keenly contested that the management restrict the race to seven year olds. The oldest six dogs entered will be accepted provided that they have contested more than 100 races. No fears for the first choice, Rallystone Supreme who is six months away from his eighth birthday. The Park Royal runner, who is contesting his 304th race, leads up but finishes second.
1961 Wimbledon introduce graded reserves for the first time. The move comes following an idea suggested by the press for a four runner graded hurdle race. Fearing a three runner field, the track duly have a hurdler on standby. He isn’t required. However, six Members of Parliament turn up to see their grader Backbencher take part in an S7 graded race. He is withdrawn lame alongside another two runners leaving punters to contemplate a three runner field.
1961 Top marathoner Chantilly Lace wins a Wimbledon marathon at 1-8fav. After the 10% betting tax and 6% promoters deduction, tote punters will get paid one shilling and 11 pence for their two shilling bet. The host track operate a rule which states that no punter should get less than their stake, so they subsidise each winning ticket by one penny. That costs them £65, which is £7 more than their take from the race.
1962 Wimbledon announce that shareholders will share £36,750 profit from the previous year’s trading. The amount paid to Government and local taxation – £458,618.
1963 Wimbledon announce plans to use their 830 yard distance for the final of the TV Trophy. It will be the first time that trip has been used in 33 years.
1963 Wimbledon introduce ‘the plum’ – a two-leg jackpot for punters picking consecutive forecasts in the correct order. The first winners each collected £28-18-9 (equivalent to around £540 today). Two races later, nine punters each scooped £95 (£1,770) for their two bob (£1.85).
1964 Sir Winston Churchill, famous for his ‘animated roulette’ swipe at greyhound racing gets to know one of the players more intimately when Wimbledon grader Bellfire Susy moves in. The bitch is owned by Winston’s daughter Sarah, and has joined the household for one week. During the day, Susy accompanies her owner to the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon where Miss Churchill is currently performing and where Susy has been given her own room.
1965 Trainer Paddy McEvoy, who left Clapton in 1961 to return to his hometown of Athy, Co Kildare, comes back to England to take over the kennels of the late Dennis Hannafin at Wimbledon. Temporary trainer Tom Phelan becomes his headman.
1967 A suggestion in the Wimbledon weekly news bulletin, that dishonest greyhounds should be run in blinkers, is rejected by veteran trainer Sidney Orton. He reminds bulletin editor Jerry Monk that blinkers were first tried at Wimbledon in 1930 but “they made not the slightest difference” recalls Orton.
1967 Wimbledon stewards are unimpressed when White City stewards withdraw two fancied Plough Lane runners from the Springbok semis claiming they had failed the chromo and deemed unfit to race by the White City vet. Wimbledon racing manager Con Stevens orders the dogs to trial at his track the next morning and they both record fast times.
1969 GRA announce that they have 30% interests in Wimbledon and Walthamstow. There are already connections between the different companies with Wimbledon’s John Cearns and the Stow’s Charles Chandler already GRA directors. GRA currently have 13 tracks in outright ownership.
1969 Wimbledon’s news letter has some fun at the expense of recent arrival Lord Greenville who tipped the scales at over 90lbs (40.8kg) in his first trial. He returned two pounds lighter in his next trial and improved almost a second. “If Paddy (McEllistrim) gets him down to 68lbs, we should get a new record of 22.68 for the 500 yards” quips the writer.
1970 West Ham and Wimbledon combat the reply of the FA Cup between Chelsea and Leeds by installing colour televisions at their meetings. Roger Cearns of Wimbledon says: “The last time a big match was televised on a Wednesday, we lost two thirds of our normal crowd, so we hope the punters can see live racing and football in colour, which is out of reach for most people as the sets are very expensive.
1970 Wimbledon announce that owners of adult greyhounds that cannot record 29.20 for the 500 yards will be asked to take the dogs away. All six Wimbledon kennels currently have their maximum permitted racing strength of 40 runners.
1970 The Wimbledon racing office inform the NGRC that a runner with too many letters in its name slip through their own registration process. The sharp eyed Don staff spotted that Whisky On Draught, a recent arrival in Phil Rees’ kennel breached rule 29 which limited the number of letters and space at 16. The NGRC duly wrote to tell the dog’s owner, Mrs Natalie Savva, to tell her that we must re-name it.
1976 March 17 The 48th running of the Spring Cup at Wimbledon is over the new metric distance of 660 metres. It has a high class field for the £500 and trophy final. In trap 1 Flip Your Top, 2 Westmead Satin, 3 Spats, 4 The Grand World, 5 Drynhan Star, 6 Glin Bridge. Ernie Price’s Drynhan Star (Westmead County-Westmead View, Apr 73) trained at Bletchley by Nick Savva, who in the heats broke the track record with a 40.37, smashes his field and his track record when flying home in 40.18.
1978 A Croydon man is given a year in prison for attempting to pass a forged tote ticket at Wimbledon.
1979 After continued problems following a very wet winter, Wimbledon join a series of tracks switching from grass to a partially sanded track. The stadium management have responded to trainers concerns when the going for the standard distance was calculated at 170 slow and for the 660 at 320 slow. The problem has been exacerbated by a shortage of high quality turf from suppliers. The Plough Lane switch follows similar moves at Wembley and Romford.
1979 Wimbledon’s trainers, concerned over the increasing trend of bitches being treated by oestrus suppression issue a statement condemning the practice. Having taken veterinary advice, that suppressants affect performance and cause physical damage, they unanimously decide that they will only accepted suppressed bitches if it was deemed to have been in the bitch’s best interest and with a veterinary certificate stating that the bitch’s performance will no longer be affected. Their move also follows a statement by the NGRC in which the stewards have decided that they will no longer accept claims of variations in form as being due to the actions of a suppressant.
1982 Wimbledon becomes an all-sand surface having had grass straights in recent years.
1985 Philip Rees lands the forecast in the 660 metre Spring Cup at Wimbledon with joint favourite Lady Opinion. The runner-up, who returned at 10-1 will do better in a considerably bigger stake in three months time. His name is Pagan Swallow.
1986 An open race trainer has his licence withdrawn for six months after he is found in possession of a syringe in the Wimbledon racing kennels. The stewards dismissed Rory Smyth’s claim that the syringe was to be used to administer olive oil to the sore throat of his runner Pagan Penguin.
1987 Varra Five is the top lot at Wimbledon sales after clocking 28.08 (-10) for the 460 metres. He changes hands for 6,500gns. A flop on the flat, he eventually goes on to win four hurdle open races.
1987 Newry Yank fetched a record 7,250 guineas at Wimbledon sale. The dog never won an open. Other sales flops included Ring Of Fortune ((4,500gns), Ivy Francis and Townview Dancer (3,000gns each).
1988 The leading fancies at Wimbledon’s pre-Derby sale fail to make their reserves – though they were not exactly ‘give aways’. They are headed by 27.93 trialist Dynamic Flyer who was taken off the bench at just short of £9,000 – his reserve was £10,000 – but he was sold privately to Peterborough owner trainer Stan Sharman. Northern Irish trainer Brendan Matthews had three dogs fail to make their reserves. Dominican Flyer fell short of his £9,000 reserve, a bid of £7,900 was not enough to secure Linen View, while Victorious Abbey also failed to find a new owner.
1989 Wimbledon stewards call their first ever inquiry into the performance of an open racer. Wayland Charlie, handled by the newly licensed owner trainer Michael Prydderech found 73 spots on his previous outing when winning a 660 metre event at 20-1.
1989 Dancing Pride (Spartacus-Never Sweeter) is sold for £10,000 at Wimbledon Sales after a 27.89 trial. Trained by Barry Silkman the dog goes on to half a dozen minor opens, through he also collects a £1,500 invitation race at 12-1.
1990 Barney Mooney rejects a top bid of 9,750 guineas for the fastest trialist at Wimbledon sales. Tramps Ball had a 10,000 guinea reserve after clocking 28.16 for the 460 metres.
1991 Construction multimillionaire Patsy Byrne (of Byrne Brothers) becomes a contract trainer at Wimbledon.
1991 Wimbledon handler Sam Sykes is fined £500 by the NGRC “for failing to exert proper control over his kennel staff”. This follows the previous disqualification of one of Sykes ex-employees for breaching the NGRC’s prohibition on the keeping of live animals which could be used for the training of greyhounds. Sykes claimed to have not known of the offense being committed.
1991 A Greyhound Star prize money survey shows that Wimbledon is the highest average payer per meeting at £2,027 (approx £3,375 at current rates), Romford is second (£1.969) and Brighton third (£1,521). The bottom three are Wisbech, Portsmouth and Milton Keynes.
1992 Airmount Flash makes top lot at Wimbledon Sales, 8,000gns. Bought by Jim Morris, the dog clocked 40.77. He went on to win the St Leger and Hunt Cup.
1992 Wimbledon loses one of its most famous regulars when comedian Frankie Howerd dies aged 75.
1993 Wimbledon plan to switch racedays, dropping Thursday, but introducing Wednesdays for a Tuesday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday format.
1994 Two of Wimbledon’s toughest track records are broken. The 12 year old sprint clock of Dysert Moth was practically pulverised when Slipaway Jaydee (I’m Slippy-Ballyvalican) recorded 14.95. Even more surprising, the 40.15 belonging to Ballyregan Bob (he also held the previous two records, 40.35 and 40.43) was reduced to 40.12 by First Defence (Easy And Slow-Fast Pace).
1995 GRA chairman Jarvis Astaire announces that the company will hand over the site as part of a deal to build a new stadium for greyhound racing and become the home of Wimbledon FC. The deal is brokered by Astaire and the Leader of Merton Council Tony Coleman. Astaire appears unconcerned that Wimbledon FC’s owner Sam Hamman wants nothing to do with the project. He states ”Sam is playing the role of the reluctant bride but I think we can coax him to the alter.”
1995 Wimbledon unveil their four new executive suites for their Trainers Championship meeting.
1996 Following a six month trial at Wimbledon, racing managers vote to ask the NGRC stewards to introduce middle seeding in all open races.
1996 At the racing manager’s conference Wimbledon grader Simon Harris responds to a question about the difficulty of commuting from his home in Birmingham, even though GRA cover his petrol bills. Does the journey get him down? Harris replies: “Yes, but the petrol bonus points are good. Now they phone me to ask what I want putting in the catalogue.”
1996 Work begins on a £1.5m refurbishment at Wimbledon. The most visible change will be the relocation of the racing kennels from within the main grandstand, where the runners could be viewed by the public, to a new location under the grandstand at the first bend.
2000 Hazel Dickson hands in her notice at Wimbledon. Her Windsor kennel is to be converted to a stable for polo ponies.
2002 Wimbledon boss Mike Raper announces that the track will hold a press conference for the first time following the Derby final.
2006 Pat Bannister, the Wimbledon homefinder dies from cancer shortly after homing her 2000th hound
2008 Richard Rees becomes the third generation of the family to train at Wimbledon following the retirement through ill health of his father Philip. Richard’s grandfather Phil joined the Plough Lane team in the early 1960s.
2009 Wimbledon trainer Andrew Peacock is fined £1,000 following the performance of Yak Yak Joe. His uncle Alan Peacock is made a disqualified person.
2009 Wimbledon receive 146 entries for the 2009 Blue Square Derby – that is reduced by one following the withdrawal (technical) of Ardkill Tunoco. Of the top 22 in the betting, five will make the final – Glenard Sunrise is the odd one out. Eventual winner Kinda Ready is a best priced 66, runner-up Fear Zafonic is 12-1 favourite. The remainder in order of finish were Wise Thought (20), Farloe Reason (33) and Ballymac Ruso (50).
2010 March 6 Wimbledon will return to its origins as the main grandstand is used for the last time prior to operations switching to the opposite side – the original ‘main side’ during the stadium’s early years. All graded dogs will be made to trial over the new 480 metre trip. March 12 Swift Eternity becomes the first winner over the new course.
2011 Irish trainer P J Fahy declines to trial his Tyrur string following a row with the Wimbledon racing office. Fahy then cancels plans for a raid on the 2011 English Derby.
2012 Former champion trainer Clemenson announces that he is to leave Hove at the end of March. He blames financial pressures for his decision. Wimbledon’s Norah McEllistrim is to take his place. The McEllistrim family have had runners at the track since the first meeting in 1928. Michael Peterson, with 120 greyhounds split between Oxford and Hall Green, announces he will close his kennel at the end of May. Harlow attached Chris Mosdall is to join Wimbledon.
2012 Wimbledon are criticised by trainers Charlie Lister and Dolores Ruth for moving the pick-up and extra 15 metres along the backstraight. Wimbledon racing manager Gary Matthews admits surprise at the sudden upset as the change took place a couple of months earlier.
