1988 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year

1988 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year
←  1987 1989  →

The 1988 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year was the 62nd year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland. ^[1]

Roll of honour

Major Winners
Award	Name of Winner
1988 English Greyhound Derby	Hit The Lid [2] [3]
1988 Irish Greyhound Derby	Make History [4]
1988 Scottish Greyhound Derby	Killouragh Chris [5]
Greyhound Trainer of the Year	John McGee Sr.
Greyhound of the Year	Hit The Lid
Irish Greyhound of the Year	Make History
Trainers Championship	Ernie Gaskin Sr.

Summary

The sport was experiencing a mini boom, the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) released the annual returns, with totalisator turnover up nearly 30% at £98,476,532 and attendances up over 10% recorded at 4,432,117 from 5465 meetings. ^[6]

John McGee head man to Fred Wiseman was granted a trainer's licence and took charge of the kennel. He had a remarkable year as a rookie trainer winning the Greyhound Trainer of the Year and winning the 1988 English Greyhound Derby with Hit the Lid, ^[7] the white and brindle dog owned by Fred Smith was also voted Greyhound of the Year. McGee also trained Sard who won the Gold Collar at Catford Stadium. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Tracks

Despite the boom in business five tracks closed, Hull, Maidstone, Gosforth, Derby and Preston all closed. Hull finished due to the fact that landlords Hull Kingston Rovers moved to a new stadium. The closure of Gosforth left the city of Newcastle with just one licensed track at Brough Park. Preston and Derby had both been opened by the same company in 1933 and after 55 years of different owners found themselves closing at the same time. Powderhall would change ownership twice, it was sold by the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) to local businessman Norrie Rowan for £1.8m, who then sold it on himself to Coral for an instant profit at £2.2m. The GRA lost the rights to the Scottish Greyhound Derby due to the fact that they no longer owned any tracks in Scotland. ^{[8] [9]} Ellesmere Port Stadium started racing on 29 February. ^[10]

News

The NGRC announced that major competitions would no longer be listed as Classic races but instead they would be classed as Category One and Two races based on prize money levels. This led to many tracks that had previously never had the opportunity to hold a classic race offering increased prize money in order for their events to match the traditional classics in terms of status. The positive was the fact that prize money increased, the negative was the devaluing of some of the sports most famous races in the following years. ^{[8] [9] [11]}

Grass finally disappeared from greyhound racing when Hove became the last course to remove the turf as the circuit switched to sand. The first computerised form system called Formbank was introduced, created by Peter Shotton it revolutionised Racing Office practices and was the advent to modern day systems. ^{[8] [10]}

Trainer Barney O'Connor famous for running at Walthamstow died. ^[12]

Competitions

The Stewards' Cup at Walthamstow was claimed by Westmead Move, now four years old. Another bitch Exile Energy was the winner of the St Leger at Wembley, the black bitch had made the Grand Prix final and brought Gary Baggs back to the public attention for the first time since his split with Towfiq Al-Aali, his leading owner the previous year. Aali had his own success with Ernie Gaskin when his Derby finalist Comeragh Boy won the year ending Laurels. Gaskin also secured a trainers position at Walthamstow. ^{[8] [9]}

The successes of bitches during 1988 continued with Wendys Dream, who won the Oaks at Wimbledon, the Byrne International and Puppy Oaks. ^[13]

Principal UK races

Daily Mirror Grand National, Hall Green (Mar 26, 474m h, £3,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Breeks Rocket Dinky Luckhurst 5-1 30.09 5 2nd Mackintosh Wishes 16-1 30.15 3 3rd Melville Bob Phil Rees Jr. 5-1 30.23 6 4th Parktown Ranger Tom Foster 6-4f 30.24 2 5th Rosden Pilot Norah McEllistrim 9-4 30.42 4 6th French Pirate 25-1 30.62 1

BBC TV Trophy, Hall Green (April 8, 815m, £4,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Minnies Siren [14] Terry Duggan 16-1 52.50+ 6 2nd Decoy Princess Mrs D Lucas 11-4 52.84 1 3rd Decoy Madonna Mrs D Lucas 7-1 53.10 5 4th Silver Mask Bill Masters 9-2 53.22 4 5th Role of Fame Arthur Hitch 9-4f 53.36 2 6th Super Duchess Kim Marlow 9-2 53.64 4 +Track Record

David Richardson Scurry Gold Cup, Catford (Jul 16, 385m, £6,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Farncombe Black Ernie Gaskin Sr. 8-13f 23.53 3 2nd Lissadell Tiger Ernie Gaskin Sr. 4-1 23.61 6 3rd Why That Phil Henwood 50-1 23.87 2 4th My Tallyho Two Arthur Hitch 7-2 23.88 5 5th Dempsey Flash Arthur Boyce 33-1 23.96 4 6th Boo Favourite Les Lawrence 20-1 24.00 1

Scottish Greyhound Derby, Powderhall (Aug 30, 465m, £7,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Killouragh Chris Pete Beaumont 6-4f 28.75 3 2nd Karens Champ Gary Baggs 6-1 28.78 5 3rd Festival Wonder Matt O'Sullivan 4-1 28.79 1 4th Lacca Spark Hugh Davies 40-1 28.82 2 5th Claremont Moral Pete Beaumont 33-1 29.00 4 6th Greenpark Fox Michael O'Sullivan 7-4 29.04 6

John Humphreys Gold Collar, Catford (Sep 17, 555m, £6,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Sard John McGee Sr. 6-4 34.61 3 2nd Bankers Benefit Adam Jackson 8-1 34.83 1 3rd Down West Terry Atkins 50-1 35.23 5 4th Blue Emblem Ernie Gaskin Sr. 6-1 35.33 2 5th Silver Chance John Honeysett 20-1 35.36 4 6th Curryhills Press Barry Silkman 5-4f 35.39 6

Track Bookmakers Cesarewitch, Belle Vue (Sep 24, 853m, £3,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Proud To Run Harry White 7-1 56.33 1 2nd Decoy Madonna Mrs D Lucas 2-1jf 56.47 3 3rd Ballylarkin Mini Lionel Maxen 2-1jf 56.59 4 4th Manx Marajaz Nigel Saunders 7-2 56.87 5 5th Astrosyn Trace Derek Knight 10-1 57.03 6 N/R Sams Wonderboy

John Power Grand Prix, Walthamstow (Oct 8, 640m, £7,500) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Digby Bridge [15] John Malcolm 50-1 40.14 3 2nd Bad Intentions John Ripley 25-1 40.22 1 3rd Exile Energy Gary Baggs 3-1 40.40 5 4th Going For Glory Kim Marlow 5-1 40.50 6 5th Bankers Benefit Adam Jackson 5-1 40.84 4 6th Waltham Abbey Adam Jackson 11-10f 00.00 2

Oaks, Wimbledon (Oct 29, 480m, £6,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Wendys Dream Tommy Foster 4-5f 28.81 2 2nd Carriglea Ese [16] Paddy Hancox 7-1 29.01 1 3rd Hillville Blonde Bertie Gaynor 12-1 29.25 3 4th Barnacuiga Lass Geoff De Mulder 16-1 29.37 6 5th Westmead Move Natalie Savva 3-1 29.38 5 6th Kilbeg Judy Kenny Linzell 16-1 29.60 4

St Leger, Wembley (Nov 18, 655m, £8,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Exile Energy Gary Baggs 9-2 39.76 4 2nd Westmead Pulse Natalie Savva 4-1 39.94 5 3rd Down West Terry Atkins 14-1 40.08 6 4th Jerpoint Diamond Bernie Doyle 1-1f 40.14 1 5th Super Supreme Ken Reynolds 11-2 40.20 3 6th Roseville Jackie Geoff De Mulder 33-1 40.36 2

Ike Morris Laurels, Wimbledon (Dec 27, 460m, £6,000) Pos Name of Greyhound Trainer SP Time Trap 1st Comeragh Boy Ernie Gaskin Sr. 6-4f 27.86 6 2nd Pond Hurricane Harry Williams 4-1 27.96 1 3rd Attractive Son Ger McKenna 6-1 27.97 2 4th Captains Trail Phil Rees Jr. 3-1 28.13 3 5th Paper Whisper Arthur Hitch 33-1 28.19 5 6th Festival Wonder John McGee Sr. 10-1 28.63 4

Totalisator returns

Extended content

The totalisator returns declared to the National Greyhound Racing Club for the year 1988 are listed below. [17] Stadium Turnover £ London (Wimbledon) 16,593,590 London (Walthamstow) 16,355,089 Romford 7,418,073 Brighton & Hove 6,597,798 London (Catford) 6,277,629 London (Wembley) 5,943,058 Birmingham (Hall Green) 4,315,543 Manchester (Belle Vue) 3,538,593 Crayford 3,109,417 Oxford 2,294,967 Edinburgh (Powderhall) 2,147,110 Stadium Turnover £ Glasgow (Shawfield) 2,009,688 Newcastle (Brough Park) 1,919,854 Sheffield (Owlerton) 1,782,333 Ramsgate 1,747,160 Wolverhampton (Monmore) 1,657,914 Portsmouth 1,529,916 Yarmouth 1,363,609 Reading 1,218,086 Swindon 1,100,563 Bristol 1,057,112 Milton Keynes 1,025,807 Stadium Turnover £ Canterbury 950,524 London (Hackney) 848,834 Rye House 648,808 Poole 647,432 Hull (Old Craven Park) 603,508 Henlow (Bedfordshire) 595,251 Peterborough 417,070 Cradley Heath 400,748 Middlesbrough 369,815 Nottingham 344,331 Swaffham 305,964

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 196/197/198/199/200. Ringpress Books. ISBN   0-948955-36-8.
3. "1988". Greyhound Data.
4. Fortune, Michael. The 75 Years History of the Irish Greyhound Derby 1932-2006. Irish Greyhound Review. ISSN   0332-3536.
5. Hobbs, Jonathan (2007). Greyhound Annual 2008, pages 153-154. Raceform. ISBN   978-1-905153-53-4.
6. NGRC calendar. National Greyhound Racing Club. January 1989.
7. "1988". Greyhound Data.
8. Genders, Roy (1990). NGRC book of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN   0-7207-1804-X.
9. Barnes, Julia (1991). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File, Vol Two. Ringpress Books. ISBN   0-948955-61-9.
10. Barnes/Sellers, Julia/John (1992). Ladbrokes Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. ISBN   0-948955-22-8.
11. Fry, Paul (1995). The Official NGRC Greyhound Racing Yearbook. Ringpress Books. ISBN   186054-010-4.
12. "Remember When - March 1988". Greyhound Star. 24 March 2019.
13. "Monthly Greyhound Star (Remember When 1988) January edition". Greyhound Star.
14. "Remember When - October 1988". Greyhound Star. 7 October 2018.
15. "Remember When - September". Greyhound Star. 2 September 2018.
16. "Remember When - October 1987". Greyhound Star. 7 October 2018.
17. Totalisator returns of National Greyhound Racing Club Licensed tracks. National Greyhound Racing Club. 1988.