Greyhound memories

[BillyHills]

Many years ago I got into Greyhound Racing when I lived in Leicester, at that time (late 1970's) it was one of only two grass tracks in the UK, the other one was at Middlesbrough, both now sadly housing estates!!

A fried of mine that I played football with had a share in a dog that ran at Leicester called Fur Coat would you believe, it was bred by Fionntra Frolic a very good Irish dog. Anyway Fur Coat was a dinky little thing and always paid rubbish on the Tote because all of the women would back her. One day a shareholder dropped out and I paid a few quid to take his place and became a Greyhound owner for the first time.

She won about three weeks later in a photo finish and I asked the Racing manager if i could keep the photo-finish print which I still have somewhere.

The point is it got me into the sport for a very little amount of money and I went on to have dogs at Derby (also now a housing estate) and in later years in the North at several tracks.

A very good friend of mine used to breed Greyhounds and he talked me into having a pup one Christmas, never buy a pup for Xmas!!!!! The dog never made it to the track, she was scared of the noise the hare made and failed in her initial schooling sessions. I took her home and she became a very loyal pet for 14 years.

I later moved up to Hartlepool and got in with a bunch of lads who had some dogs on the flapping circuit, these tracks for those that don't know are not regulated by the official NGRC and can be very dodgy indeed. I have known good dogs turn up at these meetings under false names and win by half a track.

To be continued......

[BillyHills]

Whilst I was in Hartlepool I got my first taste of the Greyhound Auction scene, every now and again they held these auctions at a local track, it consisted of about 20 3-dog races over a sprint trip and then all the dogs went under the hammer.
We fancied a dabble and noted all of the times down to try and work out the best dogs, it's not an exact science as most of these dogs have just been shipped over from Ireland without much rest.

Anyway we went for a big rangy dog that finished second in her trial, the winner went for £700 and we got ours for less than half of that, she was beaten 4 lengths so we thought we were buying something along the A7 class. All of the auction dogs got an entry into a competition a few days later, 5 dog races, all handicaps on the trial times. Our bitch got through her heat and then finished last in the final later on that night, we were quiet satisfied with that.

To cut a long story short after a spell on the flapping circuit she ended up going to Brough Park (now Newcastle) and actually won an A8 race on the BAGS. I couldn't get to the track and watched in the local bookies, that was a thrill, she was fast away but didn't quite get the trip at Brough (500m) so often would struggle home, she held on this day by a short head!

She never won another race due to injury, she was a big dog and the tight turns played havoc with her hips, she was sent to a local farmer where she was treated like a queen and ran about the land chasing hares!

To be continued...

 

 

[BillyHills]

My last dealings with Greyhounds was with a trainer called Malcolm Woods at Sunderland. He had a reputation for landing some big gambles but had been warned to behave himself when the new track at Sunderland was opened, it went onto the BAGS circuit and into the bookies all over the country so the eyes were open and watching everything.

One night he had an Irish dog making his debut after the usual three trials, these trials were supposed to determine which grade to race the dogs in and he was put into an A7. He led from start to finish and won by 12 lengths, he had opened at 9/2 and finished Even money favourite. The dog was warned off and had to do three more trials, I think it raced in A3 races eventually.

I bought an ex-Romford bitch out of his kennel, he had took half a dozen dogs from another trainer as he needed to boost his numbers for the BAGS races. I paid £200 for her, she was an A4 bitch at Romford and expected to be A5-A6 here at Sunderland.

She was a lovely bitch and I walked her around the country lanes at weekends along with a few others who's owners never visited the kennels. Her name was Bermuda Gold, she won a few times for me, mainly in handicaps as she was a bit slow out of the boxes and often got crowded from level starts. The staggered handicap starts suited her well and was often in traps 3 or 4 with room to run in to. She was very consistent and a she retired at the age of five owing me nothing.

I dont have any Dog tracks near me now in Southport, I think Belle Vue Manchester is the closest, in fact a bloke from Southport is a trainer at Bell Vue. I may go one night to see how it looks these days. Its such a shame that so many Dog tracks have been shut down, hardly any left in London now.

I still have some videos of the Brough and Sunderland races, need to get them on to DVD!

[notanotherdonkey]

Barry Hills would the greyhound track at Middlesborough be 5 aside pitches from the flyover and was Cleveland Park as I used to watch speedway there but now go to South Tees motor park near south bank.

[BillyHills]

Yes mate, you could see it from the flyover, Cleveland Park.

Didn't know it was footy pitches, would have been close to the old Ayresome Park?

[corky]

its a sport i never bet on nowadays,but thats more to do with burnt fingers than anything else, used to go the dogs 2/3 times a week, shawfield in glasgow, only 5 dog races which was an official track, which was on tues,thurs and sat every week, with the trials on a sunday, plenty flapping trips in around the city of glasgow with ashfield and carfin being the "livlier" ones

shawfield you could always get a decent bet on, but it was in "a rough"part in the city you needed a car/taxi  if you won serious money and you never waited on the last race!!!! 

ashfield was a track that had plenty of ringers or bookmaker dogs, but there trials on a sunday was where the big money was punted unofficially, seen plenty sore faces in those days.but it was a track where someone always knew the ringrers would win,and they won with half the track too spare !!!

[Striker]

Been going dog racing since I was a kid, when my dad took me to the local tracks in the midlands

Then owned a few which was great fun, though most pleasure given was when they retired and I had them as pets at home.

Such beautiful, loving and loyal animals