was his kennels near bracknell?

Clapton, last time Blue Grey made a profit

Talking of tracks in London, i remember one night at Wembley for the semis of the St Leger. It was the year where Westmead Pulse was the eternal bridesmaid. Anyway, me and a friend had one over the eight but we had 3 winning trios, each paying hundreds. Somehow found myself at Waterloo Station trying to catch a train to Raynes Park and an inspector kindly put me on the right one, it must have been the last train at midnight. There was one other man on the train in my carriage and i mumbled Raynes Park? He nodded and as luck would have it that was his stop and he woke me up as he was getting off. I just managed to stagger out before the doors closed, otherwise think i would have ended up on the south coast!

Everything was hazy in the morning. I rooted through my pockets to find something and discovered all this money, things started to dawn on me then!

Took a trip to Walthamstow one year for the Grand Prix final. Cant remember what won, but i was on Bally something Snow, i think. Only went for the final and to have a bet and watch Iceman Merlin. Got 8/1, shot out and led everywhere bar the line, beaten a short-head by the favourite, gutted. Went on to win big races at the Stow in flying times, robbed. Only one other race worth its salt that night really and thankfully, recall winning. Think it was the short 4-bend race where i had something Moment over a Court Ads runner, i seem to remember

Great pic of Clapton Sparrow

That would have been the last bend where you can just see the books
Funny it's the spot where I liked to stand when I went.

Park Royal

Tube to Park Royal tube station and across the North Cir for a little walk down a ally pass the Guiness brewery.

You could smell the beer as you walked by the place.

Again I can remember the sprint was 400 yards with a nice long run to the bend right in front of the main stand.

It was a tight track with not many dogs able to come from behind.

Cant remember the long distance they run over maybe someone else can.

From what I can remember they only ever run in the afternoons.

As someone has already said on to Wembley to get it back or play up the winnings.

"seaside".....Park Royal had both morning & afternoon meetings on Boxing Day,Whit Monday & the August Bank Holiday........16 races in a day.

White City (Manchester) had a similar arrangement.

mr memory i also remember hackney having a morning and afternoon meeting

The old Greyhound Express used to print two editions on Bank Holidays, a "Matinee" edition with all the morning and afternoon cards and an "Evening" edition. Both crammed with racecards, a massive choice of meetings for dog fans.

The Boxing Day Marathon matinee meeting at Catford was not to be missed, part and parcel of the festive season.

Rye House. All quiet, punters feeding frenzy, then quiet again every race.

Catford. Come out of the press box and you could easily fall head over t*t down the slope.

Norton Canes. Back of nowhere, was very cheap but many a good dog ran there, especially Geoff DeMulder's.

Coventry. Bookies take the biscuit for worst over-round.

Walthamstow. Will remember the Grand Prix' and match races. Went down once and stayed in Leightonstone. Cost me an absolute fortune in taxis, didnt find out till next morning, a local bus went virtually door to door.

Bolton. Never known a dead-heat announced so quickly there, virtually as they crossed the line and yes, the photo-finish equipment was working!

I remember J C ,he was an eighteen carat ****.
Like Irishone I remember Aldershot as being a nice friendly place.
But for fun I doubt you could beat Rodgers' at Loudwater on a saturday afternoon.Racing behind a ball hare,it was a stroke a minute!
Then there was another ball hare with one bend on The Buckingham Road,Aylesbury,Mick Morley ran it and ,true to form ,it was another stitch up.
The whippet racing at Wokingham FC was terrific fun.I saw a dog run there in blinkers.The blinkers looked as if they had been made out of the cardboard inner from a toilet roll and an old bra.
The hapless beast was called Tattenham Tornado and connections went for a tiny touch.It was only small change betting there.The lids went up and the blinkers got caught in the traps.But game little dog that it was it went hurtling up the straight unable to see where it was going .And it kept going, straight into the fence.It was unharmed.
Why did it wear blinkers?Christ knows.

Ambrosia?

"seaside".......The tube station for Stamford Bridge was Walham Green..........it was later changed to Fulham Broadway.
The distances were 500 & 700 yards............it was the fastest track in England.

mr memory do you remember the peanut man at hendon peanuts come and get your peanuts and the same old music played at hendon dogs for years good days they were

"mad dog".......No crap...Hendon & Wembley both played Victor Sylvester records between races.

Talking of music, always Herb Alpert and Bert Kaempfert at Clapton.

Thank you mr memory that was indeed the place
They held open races, all breeds, mighty craic, saw a dulux dog get stuck in those boxes
Brilliant mate, thanks for the memory, so many years ago now !

I think the old girl that served the breakfasts at Hackney on Saturday mornings was called Pearl I think if memory serves. One morning a bit of her **** ash fell on my plate. She wiped it off with a tea towel and went on her merry way without a care in the world bless her Those were certainly the good old days.

f a g

Mr Memory's recolection of morning and evening meetings on the same day brought reminded me of Southend, every bank holiday, they even had heats in the morning and the final that night, dogs running twice in one day! It was a great circuit even if the graded racing was always a stitch up. All you needed to do to find most graded winners would be to wait for Albert Skelton's men and watch what they backed, sounds easy now but never seemed quite so simple at the time!