1980 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year

1980 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year
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The 1980 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year was the 54th year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland. ^[1]

Roll of honour

Major Winners
Award	Name of Winner
1980 English Greyhound Derby	Indian Joe [2] [3]
1980 Irish Greyhound Derby	Suir Miller [4] [5]
1980 Scottish Greyhound Derby	Decoy Sovereign [6]
Greyhound Trainer of the Year	Pat Mullins
Greyhound of the Year	Sport Promoter
Irish Greyhound of the Year	Indian Joe
Trainers Championship	Ted Dickson

Summary

The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) released the annual returns, with totalisator turnover up 10%, at £81,290,642 but attendances down 15%, recorded at 5,484,781 from 5504 meetings. The increase in tote turnover indicated a significant increase in spend per head because attendances had decreased significantly. The decrease could partly be blamed on 200 less meetings but the fact that tracks charged a 17% tote retention would have been another factor. Regardless of blame it was the lowest attendance return on record, even less than the first full year of racing in 1927. ^[7]

Sport Promoter, a brindle dog was voted Greyhound of the Year. ^[8] He won Gold Collar at Catford Stadium and the Grand Prix at Walthamstow Stadium. ^[9]

Tracks

Nottingham Greyhound Stadium opened on 24 January. ^{[10] [11]}

Ladbrokes closed Willenhall for development and cut prize money at Perry Barr and Monmore. ^[10] Eastville Stadium suffered a major fire, and the majority of the south stand was destroyed causing more than £1 million worth of damage. Later in the year some consolation arrived in the form of a Bookmakers Afternoon Greyhound Service (BAGS) debut in November, and along with Hackney would become the backbone of the betting shop service. ^[11] Monmore also joined the BAGS, which is currently supplied by White City Manchester, Hackney, Wembley and Harringay. ^[12]

Bletchley in Milton Keynes under the new promotion of Reg Young rejoined the NGRC under the permit scheme and would become known as Milton Keynes Stadium instead of Bletchley. Maidstone and Long Eaton would leave the scheme and the Knott family sold their interest in Poole Stadium. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

News

An outbreak of Parvovirus killed hundreds of pups in the early part of the year. ^[9] The Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) continue to recover from their debt and repay creditors. ^[13] Arthur Hancock retired as a trainer at Brighton and was replaced by GRA trainer Derek Knight who had previously been at Shawfield.

Ireland

The Bord na gCon increase prize money by a further 25%. Knockrour Slave won the Irish Laurels for the second successive year and break the Cork Greyhound Stadium track record in the final recording 29.00 sec. ^[11]

Competitions

1979 Greyhound of the Year Desert Pilot reached the St Leger final at Wembley Greyhounds and performed well but lost out to Fair Reward trained by Bob Young with Decoy Sovereign runner up. Decoy Sovereign was trained by the Cobbold family Joe Cobbold and wife Doreen and had been bred by Brenda Baggs, wife of Gary Baggs who were helping the Cobbolds at the time. Decoy Sovereign easily won the Scottish Greyhound Derby final, the fawn dog defeated a good field. A greyhound called Rahan Ship has been ante post favourite for the Glasgow classic but had been withdrawn following the wrong form being printed in the racecard. The NGRC instigated an inquiry and some track officials lost their jobs before the dog returned to Ireland. ^{[14] [9] [10] [11] [15]}

Principal UK races

BBC TV Trophy, Wembley (Apr 2, 850m, £2,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Tread Fast Graham Sharp 53.20 12-1 2 2nd Welsh Cobbler John Honeysett 53.24 9-2 5 3rd Flighty Frances 53.26 8-1 4 4th Gloss Bette Godwin 53.44 9-2 6 5th Major Snoot K Burgess 53.88 16-1 3 6th Roystons Supreme Adam Jackson 00.00 11-10f 1

Grand National, White City (April 5 500m h, £4,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Gilt Edge Flyer Eric Pateman 4-5f 30.22 1 2nd Westlands Steve Gunner Smith 10-1 30.92 4 3rd Teenage Heather David Kinchett 20-1 30.95 3 4th Ballymena Moon George Curtis 4-1 31.11 6 5th Scintillas Rock Frank Melville 16-1 31.63 5 6th Right Arkle Ted Dickson 4-1 00.00 2

Laurels, Wimbledon (May 16, 460m, £3,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Flying Pursuit John Gibbons 6-4f 27.89 4 2nd Jon Barrie Ray Andrews 8-1 28.07 5 3rd Lift Coming Dick Hawkes 5-2 28.25 6 4th Dangerous Lad Joe Pickering 7-2 28.45 1 5th The Grand Devil Phil Rees Jr. 14-1 28.55 2 6th Super Countess 12-1 28.59 3

Scurry Gold Cup, Slough (Jul 19, 442m, £5,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Willing Slave Ted Dickson 2-1 27.11 1 2nd Ballydonnell Ted 6-1 27.15 5 3rd Able Worker Nora Gleeson 7-1 27.59 3 4th Lancia Q Paddy McEvoy 7-1 27.63 2 5th Alpine Mill 16-1 27.65 6 6th Sunny Interval Phil Rees Jr. 7-4f 27.69 4

Scottish Greyhound Derby, Shawfield (Aug 9, 500m, £3,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Decoy Sovereign Joe Cobbold 4-1 30.68 5 2nd Coolarota Ray Andrews 10-1 31.16 3 3rd Jon Barrie Ray Andrews 5-4f 31.32 2 4th Corleish Ron 10-1 31.38 4 5th Barley Field Joe Kelly 5-2 31.62 1 6th Town View Evert Ray Andrews 7-1 31.66 6

St Leger, Wembley (655m, £10,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Fair Reward Bob Young 5-2 40.46 2 2nd Decoy Sovereign Joe Cobbold 8-1 40.58 6 3rd Desert Pilot Geoff De Mulder 4-5f 40.61 1 4th Donore Speech 18-1 40.71 3 5th Sport Promoter Pat Mullins 6-1 40.81 4 6th Owners Guide Tony Jowett 100-1 40.91 5

Gold Collar, Catford (Sep 20, 555m, £5,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Sport Promoter Pat Mullins 8-15f 35.06 5 2nd Owners Guide Tony Jowett 8-1 35.22 6 3rd Tivoli Town John Cox 4-1 35.34 2 4th Cormacruiser 7-1 35.46 1 5th Fly Muffin 25-1 35.68 4 6th Westmead Echo 16-1 35.78 3

Cesarewitch, Belle Vue (Oct 4, 815m, £3,500) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Linkside Liquor Gordon Bailey 3-1 51.22 2 2nd Visiting Time 2-1f 51.25 3 3rd Tread Fast Graham Sharp 3-1 51.28 4 4th Roystons Supreme Adam Jackson 14-1 51.34 5 5th Petite Silver 25-1 51.62 6 6th Caesars Daughter J Williamson 3-1 51.76 1

The Grand Prix, Walthamstow (Oct 18, 640m, £5,500) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Sport Promoter Pat Mullins 2-1jf 40.17 4 2nd North Rain Geoff De Mulder 11-4 40.25 5 3rd Boys Town Pat Mullins 6-1 40.33 6 4th Honeygar Kid Ray Andrews 66-1 40.63 2 5th Knockerlay Star Adam Jackson 2-1jf 40.69 3 6th Johns Luck Norah McEllistrim 20-1 41.25 1

Oaks, Harringay (Oct 31, 475m, £1,750) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Devilish Dolores Ernie Gaskin Sr. 20-1 28.72 4 2nd Pacey Miss R Sperry 5-2 28.78 6 3rd The Mill Queen Tom Foster 9-4f 28.79 5 4th Thanet Princess Tom Foster 14-1 29.01 2 5th Roystons Damsel Adam Jackson 11-4 29.05 1 6th Day Dream Wally Ginzel 7-2 29.17 3

Totalisator returns

Extended content

The totalisator returns declared to the National Greyhound Racing Club for the year 1980 are listed below. [16] Stadium Turnover £ London (White City) 8,601,270 London (Walthamstow) 8,410,073 London (Wimbledon) 6,337,216 London (Harringay) 4,379,421 Romford 4,030,569 London (Catford) 3,950,040 Brighton & Hove 3,648,558 Slough 3,409,122 London (Wembley) 3,302,233 Manchester (Belle Vue) 3,006,025 Birmingham (Hall Green) 2,544,020 Crayford & Bexleyheath 2,387,655 Edinburgh (Powderhall) 2,270,729 Newcastle (Brough Park) 1,752,892 Southend-on-Sea 1,733,398 Stadium Turnover £ Glasgow (Shawfield) 1,667,392 Birmingham (Perry Barr, old) 1,663,977 Sheffield (Owlerton) 1,526,712 Leeds (Elland Road) 1,526,303 Wolverhampton (Monmore) 1,346,299 Gloucester & Cheltenham 970,347 London (Hackney) 940,260 Yarmouth 924,764 Derby 912,433 Ramsgate 886,521 Portsmouth 872,621 Bristol (Eastville) 829,729 Newcastle (Gosforth) 621,531 Nottingham 565,828 Reading 531,223 Stadium Turnover £ Poole 530,080 Milton Keynes 516,666 Middlesbrough 468,621 Ipswich 466,779 Hull (Old Craven Park) 438,720 Coventry 424,723 Cradley Heath 414,698 Rye House 359,551 Manchester (White City) 344,927 Henlow (Bedfordshire) 344,528 Leicester 343,122 Oxford 340,863 Swindon 306,970 Norton Canes 60,000

References

1. Fry, Paul (1995). The Official NGRC Greyhound Racing Yearbook. Ringpress Books. ISBN   186054-010-4.
2. Dack, Barrie (1990). Greyhound Derby, the first 60 years, pages 170/171/172. Ringpress Books. ISBN   0-948955-36-8.
3. "1980". Greyhound Data.
4. Fortune, Michael. The 75 Years History of the Irish Greyhound Derby 1932-2006. Irish Greyhound Review. ISSN   0332-3536.
5. Fortune, Michael. Irish Greyhound Derby 1932-1981. Victory Irish Promotions Ltd.
6. Hobbs, Jonathan (2007). Greyhound Annual 2008, pages 153-154. Raceform. ISBN   978-1-905153-53-4.
7. NGRC calendar. National Greyhound Racing Club. January 1981.
8. "Sport Promoter profile". Greyhound Data.
9. Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN   07207-1106-1.
10. Barnes, Julia (1988). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. ISBN   0-948955-15-5.
11. Genders, Roy (1990). NGRC book of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN   0-7207-1804-X.
12. "Remember When - September 1980". Greyhound Star.
13. ""Further payment for GRA creditors." Times, 2 Feb. 1980, p. 20". Times Digital Archives.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
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. Ringpress Books. ISBN   0-948955-22-8.
16. Totalisator returns of National Greyhound Racing Club Licensed tracks. National Greyhound Racing Club. 1980.