1933 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year

1933 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year
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The 1933 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year was the eighth year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Roll of honour

Major Winners
Award Name of Winner
1933 English Greyhound Derby[1] Future Cutlet
1933 Irish Greyhound Derby[2] Monologue
1933 Scottish Greyhound Derby [3] S.L.D
1933 Welsh Greyhound Derby [4] Beef Cutlet

Summary

The industry continued to experience a boom with attendances steadily increasing. However the totalisator ban enforced by the government was impacting profits with 17,000 jobs affected. The situation did not deter new tracks opening, with at least 28 known tracks starting racing during 1933.[5] Future Cutlet won the 1933 English Greyhound Derby before being retired, his owner Mr Evershed set up a trust fund for the champion so that he would live in luxury for the rest of his life.[6]

Tracks

London remained the main focus point for racing with Walthamstow Stadium, New Cross Stadium, Wandsworth Stadium and Stamford Bridge joining the tracks already operating.[7][8] A small flapping track (independent) called the Crooked Billet Greyhound & Whippet track was bought by William Chandler who then went about building Walthamstow.[9] Wandsworth stadium cost £100,000 to build and seated 20,000 and New Cross could accommodate 25,000 people but was only an independent track at this stage. Stamford Bridge was capable of holding 100,000 spectators and was home to Chelsea F.C.; the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) controlled the Stamford Bridge racing with the track's supply of runners coming from the GRA kennels at the Hook Estate in Northaw.[5][9]

The availability of a venue for greyhound racing did not seem to be a problem and included Thorpe Greyhound Track (an ice skating rink in the winter)[10] and Derby Greyhound Stadium (a former prison).[11]

Tracks opened

Date Stadium/Track Location
4 January Wakefield Greyhound Stadium Wakefield
12 January Owlerton Stadium Sheffield
25 February Seaforth Greyhound Stadium Liverpool
? February Halfway Greyhound Track Kingskerswell
11 March Horsley Hill South Shields
27 March Blackburn Greyhound Stadium Blackburn
1 April Hyde Park Greyhound Stadium Sheffield
7 April Squires Gate Greyhound Stadium Blackpool
15 April Southend Stadium Southend-on-Sea
15 April Wandsworth Stadium London
29 April Derby Greyhound Stadium Derby
7 June Holburn Stadium Aberdeen
9 June Oldham Greyhound Stadium Oldham
9 June Barrmill Stadium Galston
17 June Thorpe Greyhound Track Norwich
19 June Walthamstow Stadium[12] London
23 June Granvue Greyhound Stadium Stevenston
24 June White City Stadium Nottingham
24 June Aylesbury and District Hartwell
? June New Cross Stadium London
22 July Gloucester & Cheltenham Stadium Longlevens
31 July Rotherham Greyhound Stadium Rotherham
3 August Enniscorthy Greyhound Stadium Enniscorthy
12 August Cappielow Park Greenock
21 August Irvine Caledonian Stadium Irvine
6 October Blantyre Greyhound Stadium Blantyre
16 December Tams Brig Greyhound Stadium Ayr
unknown
(pre-November)		 Stamford Bridge London
unknown Lonsdale Park Workington

News

Nine famous greyhounds from the GRA kennels, at Northaw, appeared at Selfridges in Oxford Street which attracted 10,000 visitors.[13]

Competitions

The newly inaugurated Gold Collar at Catford Stadium offered £1,000 prize money, a substantial amount only surpassed by the English Greyhound Derby itself. The Derby champion Wild Woolley back with Jack Rimmer, added this new event to his successes. A second major event was introduced in Scotland at Powderhall Stadium called the Edinburgh Cup.[14][15]

Beef Cutlet easily defeated his rivals during the Welsh Greyhound Derby final at White City Stadium, Cardiff in a time of 29.56 seconds, before Long Hop failed to defend his Grand National title, following a short head defeat to Scapegoat.[13] Three weeks after the Derby, Beef Cutlet surprisingly lost to Elsell in the Cesarewitch final but made amends in the Record Stakes at Wimbledon winning the race against four of the best dogs in training, Future Cutlet, Goofy Gear, Brave Enough and Failing.[13]

A new star called Creamery Border came to prominence when winning the Scurry Gold Cup, he was put with Arthur 'Doc' Callanan who was now a trainer at Wembley and had nursed the dog back to health in 1931. This was his first track event in England and went unbeaten throughout the competition. Winning his heat and semi-final, he went on to win the final by six lengths in a track record time, from Chesterfield Jewel, with the Oaks winner Queen of the Suir behind them. The Laurels went to Wild Woolley, trained by Jimmy Campbell once again; Queen of the Suir made the Laurels final before successfully defending her Oaks title for trainer Stanley Biss one month later. Creamery Border went lame and failed to finish in the semi-finals of the Laurels.[13]

Ireland

In Ireland the owners of Harold's Cross Stadium were left angered when Shelbourne Park was once again handed the Irish Greyhound Derby. Mr Tynan representing the track had pointed out that the previous year Paddy O'Donoghue had promised that they could hold the event in 1933. Irish Coursing Club chairman John Bruton explained that they could not cancel a ruling by the club that had already made. Tynan stormed out of a meeting with Harold's Cross refusing to run any classic competitions or their qualifying races and threatened to run their own Irish Championship.[16][17]

Brilliant Bob, a May 1931 whelp, by Other Days out of Birchfield Bessie was bred in County Tipperary by Billy Quinn, and he sold a half share to an Irish farmer. The dog came into prominence as a puppy, when he won Ireland's oldest coursing event, the Tipperary Cup. When he was introduced to track racing the brindle-fawn dog finished runner-up in the Easter Cup and then won the St Leger at Clonmel Greyhound Stadium over 550 yards in 31.53.[18][6]

Principal UK races

Key

U = unplaced
+ = Track Record

References

  1. ^ Dack, Barrie (1990). Greyhound Derby, the first 60 years, pages 65-67. Ringpress Books. ISBN 0-948955-36-8.
  2. ^ Fortune, Michael. Irish Greyhound Derby 1932–1981 pages 1-2. Victory Irish Promotions Ltd.
  3. ^ Hobbs, Jonathan (2007). Greyhound Annual 2008, pages 153-154. Raceform. ISBN 978-1-905153-53-4.
  4. ^ Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing, pages 129-130. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
  5. ^ a b Genders, Roy (1975). The Greyhound and Racing Greyhound. Page Brothers (Norwich). ISBN 0-85020-0474.
  6. ^ a b "Hall of Fame". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  7. ^ Culpepper Clarke, Carlo F (1934). Greyhound and Greyhound Racing. Methuen & Co Ltd (London).
  8. ^ Tarter, P Howard (1949). Greyhound Racing Encyclopedia. Fleet Publishing Company Ltd.
  9. ^ a b Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
  10. ^ "Track location". Norfolk Heritage Explorer.
  11. ^ Tarter, P Howard (1949). Greyhound Racing Encyclopedia. Fleet Publishing Company Ltd. p. 58.
  12. ^ "Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium To-Night Grand Opening". Daily Mirror. 19 June 1933. Retrieved 16 August 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ a b c d Genders, Roy (1990). NGRC book of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 0-7207-1804-X.
  14. ^ Barnes, Julia (1991). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File, Vol Two. Ringpress Books. ISBN 0-948955-61-9.
  15. ^ Barnes/Sellers, Julia/John (1992). Ladbrokes Greyhound Fact File, pages 142-143. Ringpress Books. ISBN 0-948955-22-8.
  16. ^ Fortune, Michael. Irish Greyhound Derby 1932-1981. Victory Irish Promotions Ltd.
  17. ^ Fortune, Michael. The 75 Years History of the Irish Greyhound Derby. Irish Greyhound Review. ISSN 0332-3536.
  18. ^ Comyn, John. 50 Years of Greyhound Racing in Ireland. Aherlow Publishers Ltd.