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spike was two miles from highgate yorkshire, highgate track still there flapping
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HIGHGATE IS STILL GOING TWO BOOKS WHO WILL TAKE AT LEAST A MONKEY SO WORTH A VISIT
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same at askern still going you can get 1500 to 2000 on so again worth bringing a fair dog
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ANYONE REMEMBER SHEFFIELD HYDE PARK NEAR THE FLATS I THINK
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HIGHGATE ST LEDGER HEATS 29TH AUGUST. FINALS 5TH SEPT. FLAPPING STILL GOING IN SOME PLACES
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Allpoints
A couple of Scotch ones which I don't think have been mentioned Hawick Brig Of Don(or something like that-Aberdeen) Another English one Ashington.You needed a dog with its left legs shorter than its right ones here to get round the corner flags. Fantastic call on Ashington, however there were some great dogs seen around there, on a personal note I miss the old place had some good old gamble there |
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how many tracks left flapping in the north east now fellas ?
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Easington & Wheatley Hill,don't know if Cambois is still going.
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is there still racing at wansbeck and is this a flapping track
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maidstone-world of leather.what about tilbury?
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Think Wansbeck only race one night a week and last I heard Wheatley Hill was Friday night only.
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thanks digger i may take a trip up how many books are there and do they lay a fair bet
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Hi chrisjake think theres 3 books at Wheatley Hill and only the one at Wansbeck but its only what i've heard at the races as I have not been for about 10 years.Good luck if you venture up.
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CHEERS MATE BE LUCKY
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any scotch lads know about ayr closing or is this just a load of ball****
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Hope I'm wrong but Wheatley Hill closed after arson attack on 14 May 2005
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The following, I hope, are still open:
Armadale Askern Ayr Corbiewood Easington Ellesmere Port Fakenham Gretna Valley Wansbeck Warwick Westhoughton Whitwood That's 13. |
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Armadale,Ayr,Gretna, Thornton,Wheatley hill,Easington,Wansbeck,Westhoughton,Ellesmere.Askern.Highgate.Valley
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Dont no what happened there add Ellesmere, Askern.Highgate, Valley
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Does anybody remember Denny my 1st track Motorway 2 Stirling went thru itWed nite Sat afternoon Gray or Frew wood rember it
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Chris went 2 Hyde park for the big Council of Gt Britain open Paddy Sweeney organised it My friend had the fav for final on the way home he stopped for a drink dog got stolen his name was Wee Willie
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I REMEMBER ted soppit getting a dog either getting nicked or loose at spennymore years ago
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Chris whats that do do with Hyde Park
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for those that asked, southend is now a retail park appropriatly named stadium way. ill never forget the 40p tote units with collosal dividends and the thursday night open racing specially the early 80s with along the line and mr blueskies frequent winners over the 647
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Found the following article, (thought it might be of interest):
Eighty years ago,on April 7,1928, greyhound racing-which had been introduced to Britain two years earlier at Manchester's Belle Vue Stadium- came to Wales. The first meeting took place at the now long gone Welsh White City Stadium at Sloper Road in the Grangetown area of Cardiff. Owing to the persistent rain that fell that historic Easter Saturday only 9,000 spectators turned up. And when the first hurdle event was declared a no-race, because the dogs were so busy fighting each other that none of them completed the 470 yard track, the future of greyhound racing in Cardiff didn't look too promising. However, fine weather on the Easter Monday saw some 25,000 people paying either 2s 4d or 5/-to get into the stadium which before the Second World War had been a venue for football, rugby, speedway, athletics and other sporting events. The Greyhound Racing Association (South Wales) had erected six kennels with accommodation for 180 dogs and under the grandstand there was spacious accommodation for its members who were provided with a lounge,bar, ladies room,cloak room all for just two guineas a year. Owners who intended to race their dogs at the track paid just a £1 a week and they could select any of the following trainers Paddy Fortune (Cork),William Baldwin(London), Albert Carter (Somerset) D T Edwards (Wattstown) and T Phillips(Cardiff). In those days, the greyhounds raced on turf not sand and this had been brought from Caerphilly Mountain.The stadium was said to be comparable with the big London tracks like Wembley and White City and 'the dogs' became so popular that soon afterwards another greyhound track was opened at then world famous Cardiff Arms Park. Mick The Miller, the most famous greyhound in the history of the sport, set a world record of 29.55 seconds for the standard distance of 525 yards when winning the 1930 Welsh Greyhound Derby at the Sloper Road stadium. Another famous greyhound to race there was Beef Cutlet trained by John Hegarty who later became the racing manager at the Cardiff Arms Park track. Beef Cutlet, won the 1933 Welsh Greyhound Derby clocking 29.56 seconds,just 01 slower than Mick's tremendous time. The opening of the greyhound track at the Cardiff Arms Park was reported to have been:" A triumph of pluck and perseverance.'' Men were still working on the track a few hours before the public were admitted and it was, not until 6 o clock that the hurdle trials were held. Despite the hustle and uncertainty the meeting went off without a hitch and 5,000 fans are said to have had an interesting evening's sport even though the grading of dogs was not what it might have been. A band played during the intervals as the dogs paraded and a new type trackers hare proved most satisfying. When greyhound racing came to Newport's Somerton Park Stadium in the November of 1932, several thousand people waited an hour, after the fifth race, while electricians tried to remedy a mechanical defect in the flood-lighting. Earlier, Alderman Fred Phillips formally opened the ' most modern Welsh track' and the South Wales Argus reporter wrote: "Whiz went the hare; fleet-footed sped the dogs after it,their legs and bodies craned to see those wonderfully intelligent animals jockey for the position near the rail.'' "There were gasps of wonder and astonishment as newcomers to the sport saw the fastest animals trained on four legs leap gracefully over the hurdles.'' The fault, however, could not be located and officials had no alternative but to abandon the rest of the card. Greyhound racing came to an end at the old Sloper Road track during the war years and at Somerton Park it finished in 1963 after the twice-weekly meetings attendances, every Tuesday and Friday, had dropped to hundreds rather then the 3,000 after the war crowds who had supported it. A crowd of 700 gathered to witness the death nell of the sport in Newport and it was the mechanical hare, that had raced around the track a million times since 1932, which had the last laugh, for, as the final race was about to start, the traps opened too soon – before the dogs with the hare chasing the dogs for a change! Len Davies, secretary at Somerton Park, told a local newspaper: "Some of the best dogs in the country have raced at Somerton Park. Perhaps the best of them all was Antartica, a white bitch which set a track 450 yards record in a Somerton Stakes heat in 1958.'' He also recalled that during the same year three dogs-Combined Hope,Finnerty and Maglin Breeze-ran a triple dead heat, a very rare occurance indeed. Sadly, greyhound racing at Cardiff came to an end on July 30,1977 because the Welsh Rugby Union needed the track to extend terracing at the National Stadium. 1,128 fans saw Lillyput Queen, owned by Cardiff butcher Malcolm Davies and trained by Freddie Goodman,win the last race.Cardiff City Council had taken less than ten minutes to reject a plan to switch greyhound racing to Maindy Stadium. And no longer would enthusiasts flock there to see well- known greyhounds such as Shaggy Lass(1945), Trev's Pefection (1947), Ballylanigan Tanist (1951), Endless Gossip(1952) Mile Bush Pride (1959) and Patricia's Hope(1972) who all won the Welsh Greyhound Derby. Now fans in Wales have only three flapping (unlicensed) meetings to attend at Swansea, Bedwellty and Ystrad Mynach to witness there favourite sport. |
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sum more Scottish flaps Clydebank Denny Motherwell Larkhall Galston Irvine Townhead&Stadium Auchenleck Falkirk Linlithgow &coatbridge both outside McGee Hare Tranent Wallyford Kirkcaldy Kilmarnock Stevenson
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THE MAD GHOST IS FAKENHAM THE SAME AS IN NORFOLK
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cashless looking good - Yes, inside the racecourse
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not any more fakenham closed years ago and newton abbot i think
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Fakenham closed in 1999 but reopened on Sunday, 7 June 2009. Whether it's still open or not, I can't find any information.
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Add Methil &Dunfermline 2 Scottish flaps gone
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Mad Ghost,Most interesting article.The Somerton track was at the old Newport County football ground.I delivered a dog to the landlord of The Ruperra pub on Commercial Rd. Newport some time after the war and went with him to the track.Interesting to see the admission prices at Cardiff.I was a boy the first night Harringay raced but I seem to remember the men paid 1/-to get in.A few years later it went up to1/6 including the racecard so in comparison Cardiff was dear.
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Endless Gossip gets a mention,he was an amazing greyhound from birth.His sire Priceless Border was a Derby winner ,so was his dam I think her name was Niagra Anna .Not many bitches won the Derby.Endless Gossip won a Derby himself and after his racing days were over his trainer,Leslie Reynolds,probably the greatest of all time took him coursing.I think he got to the semi final of The Waterloo Cup.After his coursing days were over the handsome brindle got into the finals of Crufts.I know he was a champion show dog and I would say the most versatile greyhound of all time.
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whitmarsh - Thanks for your comments. I remember the first time I went to Whie City, London in 1968 it was 5/- entry to the cheap side, (7/6 the main grandstand), so again it shows how dear Cardiff was. The only bitchs I can remember winning The Derby are Sarah's Bunny (1979)& The great Dolores Rocket (1971). Narrogar Ann (1949) was before my time and I don't think any bitches have won The Derby at the poor substitute place. Quite right about Endless Gossip, I'm certain he's the only Derby winner whose parents both won The Derby.
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"whitmarsh"........"Endless Gossip" was owned & bred by Mr.H.E.Gocher.....his greyhounds were named with the initials E G....one
example being "Eton Graduate" |
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Mr.M,I am always amazed and interested by your knowledge of greyhound racing.Perhaps you would know but I am sure I read or heard somewhere that Endless Gossip mated bitches in England,Ireland,the U.S.A. and Australia,which for the fifties was another astonishing feat.
Mad Ghost,Thank you for correcting me ,Narrogar Ann was the actual name of the dam of Endless Gossip.Dolores Rocket was owned and trained by the three White brothers and their mother.One was called Lenny. |
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Wimbledon is a cesspit now
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Preston, was once NGRC, then went flapping under the same banner as Blackpool. Intrestingly. The last racing manager at Preston (Closed Xmas 1987) was one Mr Peter O'Dowd, now for many years the RM at Romford. Preston is now an housing estate. Blackpool is now the Odeon cinama, Once the home of The Fylde Rugby club, with the Dogs on the outside, 420m was the race of the Blackpool derby, always won by a top NGRC dog in disguise. Always a lump in the throat when I drive past em both. Happy Days!
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williewalsh
Some information that might interest you. Blackpool: Racing distances: 270, 460, 550,620, 649 yards + 500 yard straight Race days: Monday,Wednesday & Friday Hare Type: Outside Sumner Racing Surface: All Grass Circumference: 343 yards(314 metres) Opened: 1939 (approx.). April 1962: Sold for housing development Closed: Circa 1994/5 Preston: Racing distances: 440, 520, 612 & 725 yards Racing Surface: Grass then Sand Opened: 1938. 1978: Becomes a“Flapping Track” Closed: 20 December 1988. July 1989: Demolished |
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Two more,cleethorps and skegness.
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