The sharp turns that cripple so many wonderful dogs

During the fifties my wife and children often shed tears when I came home from a track with an injured greyhound.  I sometimes tried to hide the lame one from them.  During the sixties I myself was worried by the number I was hurting and began writing articles about the factors that caused the stress on the limbs.  I was particularly annoyed by the injuries sustained on frozen tracks belonging to myself and  to other owners.  I well remember a cold evening at Lythalls Lane in Coventry when I was on duty as Vet for the race meeting.  After two races the temperature dropped and two runners slipped and fell over.  I complained to the Racing Manager that the surface would be unsafe if it got any colder.  After the next race it became frozen and the fog made it impossible to see the other side of the track clearly.  The R.M. telephoned the circumstances to the promoter.  He advised that a flashlamp be tied to the McWhirther sledge hare so that the driver would be able to see it and keep it at a safe distance from the dogs.  The next race was run without incident.  But in the following one the fog got more dense, the flashlamp fell off and the hare driver did not have the visibility he needed.  Two runners who got entangled on the sledge  sustained abrasions and cuts on their limbs which required dressings.   I then told the R.M. that if the meeting continued I would not be staying to attend to further injuries.  There are trainers alive who remember that evening in 1957.  When I was about to leave home for their next meeting I got a telephone call saying they had found a vet to replace me.  Despite the insensitivity of several promoters and stewards to canine suffering I supported racing and what was their business for fifty years.  I spent more than I could afford in visiting conferences and tracks in Britain,Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand, Macao, France, Holland, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, and Sweden and reporting aspects of the sport that might be beneficial to others.  Few cared to read it.  Now, as I look back on happy memories of over a score in Australia the only one that I found to be really safe here was West Ham.  If there is ever going to be a new Wimbledon, here is the minimum size, plan and design that I could recommend : --  

In the Canodrome at Macau I was welcomed by Brian Murphy from Northern Ireland and I congratulated him on his busy totalisator and large crowd of keen gamblers.
         I told you about how I was sacked from Coventry when about to go there.  Some of you kind readers may be innocent enough to wonder about the compensation I must have had ? .
I had taken the job because the promoter promised to provide me with modern premises for therapy, X rays and surgery on runners injured on the track.   He had funding for repair of the damage to the stand by the blitz in 1940.  After three months I asked the speedway manager Charlie Ochiltree "when was the building going to start".  I was shocked to learn that there was an application before the city council for planning for 350 houses.
The new Vet did telephone me to say he was offered £200 a year more than I was on - and had to  take the job because he could not leave the greyhounds without veterinary care.   I told him  "Shed no tears for me;  there are plenty more runners available from Ireland and you can now employ another assistant and increase your turnover."
There was nothing unusual about the lack of consideration for man or dogs at Coventry.   At all NGRC tracks it was customary for all meetings to start, and in the event of one being abandoned, the entrance fee was retained if four races had been run.  The target was profit pursued with hypocrisy.   Colleagues at many tracks told me about being ignored when they complained about a surface being frozen or providing no grip after torrential rain.  I saw the tears from hundreds of owners, trainers and vets seeing greyhounds they loved injured on dangerous surfaces.  Although I was critical of many Independent tracks I never knew of obligation at any of them to race on a suspect surface.   The great majority of those promoters were honest decent men and women who loved greyhounds and respected every honest customer who supported them.  When they ceased making profit nobody cared to help preventing them going to to the wall.
   I would like to digress for a minute to tell you young readers of a date you can look forward to.   I  have just found my diary for August 1999 and it reminds me that I watched a solar Eclipse from a hill near Chop Gate.   It also tells me that there will be another in September 2090.   That won't be long coming; all you have to do is - keep on breathing.
This afternoon I was pleased to hear from an ex client called Mal Thomas who has retired over near Mullingar.  He was among the kindest trainers I knew.   Indeed he treated his dogs as if they were children and they responded by performing well for him on field and track.    His best was probably Johns Mascot who won the Waterloo Cup in '92.   He was by Autumn Crystal X Here & There who were both descended from famous names going back to the 44 lbs bitch Coomassie who won it in 1877 and again the following year. !   Johns Mascot got the first half of his name because he belonged to the great sportsman John Gaskin who sadly has left us for what I hope is a fairer place.
Two years later Mal entered a dog for a race at Reading.  Though only a grader it was loved just as much as the Mascot.  The weather was foul and when Mal saw the surface he considered it too dangerous.   The gang who were supposed to foster our sport and its image robbed him of £500.   In the Sporting Life the experienced, and humane writer Bob Betts described their action as "brutal".   But of course they were as immune to criticism as they were short on compassion for trainers and their dogs.
Mal repeated the rare feat of training a second Waterloo winner in '97.   I have rarely seen so many excited enthusiasts rushing to congratulate a winning trainer of the historic event.  They were so happy for Mal that I feared he might collapse from the weight of hands striking his back.
This time he did it with one named Teds Move who was versatile enough to also win races on the track at Romford.   The fact that his pedigree included 90% track breeding was surely a factor in these wins.
              Since I went beyond ninety, aches and pains in my old joints prevent me sleeping as much as I used to.   On most nights I wake within three hours.    If still awake after an hour I have to rise, boil the kettle and add five ounces to an equal quantity of what they brew over in Cork and put in a bottle with my name on it.   But on the cold nights the arthritis may require a small measure of what is mellowed in a bog at the foot of a mountain that must remain nameless.   On nights when I have run out of my special medicine I have to lie there dreaming or longing for the days when massive crowds came to the tracks.   They came to see the dogs and not just to bet on them.  Then there were some officials who loved dogs.  They cared for their welfare and for that of the men and women who worked and often slept with them.  From 1948  Lord Denham M.C.  was the Chief Steward.   But  after his term the rogues gradually infiltrated the "goldmine".  I noticed the atmosphere changing.  When the great lawman heard of the dissension  that exploded during the '68 Derby he was said to have felt ashamed he had ever been associated with us.
  The number of followers deserting us was increasing steadily.   All too late, I had been advocating democracy and statutory control.   I did have 750 supporters but after a year the great majority abandoned hope.
         The shenanigans over "Not Flashing" who had been brought over from Dungannon for the Derby by Frank Calvan brought us more bad publicity.   The "Water Rats"  a group of celebrities and comedians who included Tommy Trinder purchased a dog called Camira Flash and put it to run for charity in the name of  HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.
The result of the first semi-final was announced with Not Flashing placed third.    As the first runner for the second semi-final was being put in the trap there was a further call : - Hel-lo  Hel-lo  In the last race, Not Flashing has been disqualified.
The seasoned racegoers instantly realised that  Camira Flash who had been eliminated in fourth place would now be placed third  and thus qualified to contest the final.    Murmurs of surprise and shock became booos and cat-calls just as the race started.
I had watched the previous race intently and had not seen  Not Flashing do anything wrong.   I asked for the opinion of some experienced race readers but nobody made any criticism of him.  This well bred dog resumed his career in Belfast  and won 10 of his next 13 races.
    The final of that Derby a week later attracted nearly twice as many racegoers.    It transpired that some were armed with tomatoes and eggs that were not all fresh.   They were intent on staging a protest to show their sympathy for  Not Flashing.   Their demonstration became particularly noisy, ugly and hostile when Camira Flash jumped from the trap and was always in front.   The thirty or forty diners who came down for the presentation were pelted so heavily that they panicked and rushed back to the top deck.   Trainer Randy Singleton rushed away with the Derby winner to the safety of the kennels.
All thoughts of a presentation were forgotten.

Charley's Ninth Birthday

We celebrated Charley's birthday on Thursday.  The venue was the popular Angel Hotel in Beverley. We were grateful to the popular Paul Smith from www.hu17.net for attending with his camera, the results of which can be viewed via the below link.  The biggest dog there was an Irish Wolfhound x Deerhound and Charley gave him a special welcome!

http://www.hu17.net/2013/08/20/charlie-made-welcome-at-beverley-boozer-on-his-birthday/

Now that we are retired and without a car to take us anywhere our best canine friend is Charley.  Some people with expensive pedigree dogs regard him as a mongrel.  We tell them he is the eleventh generation of our Jack Russells.  They were all mentally and physically sound and none of them cost a shilling.  We got the first in 1951 from a farmer in Smeeton Westerby.  He called me to see a horse one day when he was threshing corn.  As the stack got lower rats began emerging in haste.   His pregnant terrier weighing only ten pounds displayed such skill at rodent control that I ordered a puppy -- if there should be one for sale.  Two months later the farmer Mr Halden kindly arrived with a wee brown dog we called Pickles and a bitch which we gave to our local Doctor O'Reilly for his family.

This is Charley the most intelligent of all our dogs.  

More Scandals That Led To The Loss Of 210 Tracks

Before tattoos were introduced to identify runners substitutions were not uncommon.  Some were due to mistakes by trainers' assistants in distinguishing between  two fawn, black or brindled dogs.  I recall  occasions when a wrong dog ran but the mistake was detected only after the result was announced.  In some cases the race was declared void.  I remember occasions when a trainer or kennel hand reported a mistake only to be told to 'keep his mouth shut.' Con Stevens at Wimbledon was respected for strict observance and compliance with the rules but I have not forgotten a mistake by one of his assistants in identifying a runner of mine in 1967.   It resulted in a wasted 180 mile journey by Denise my faithful and expert assistant for 32 years.  When she presented my bitch Very Elegant she was rudely asked to take her away ?. One of the four letters in the tattoo was illegible simply because insufficient dye was used.  The steward never even glanced at the characteristic white markings on the forehead, nose, neck, chest or toes.  This outstanding bitch had been passed by stewards at seven other tracks and was later purchased by 'Hoppy' Green the experienced promoter at Barnsley.  

Perhaps the most lethal factor in the failure of so many tracks was the apathy toward the welfare of the greyhounds.  So many were injured on tight turns and dangerous turf surfaces during the years before I began writing about the advantages of sand.  As a teenager I had a special feeling for dogs above all other animals.   I wondered at their truth and faithfulness to us -- even when we might have been kinder to them.

When I enrolled at the veterinary college I became aware of the need to educate the public on the care, management and husbandry of animals if we were to make a contribution to the reduction of injury and disease.   I was particularly impressed by lectures delivered with passion from Alfie O' Dea the kind Professor who had graduated from London in 1906.
I took care of some of the greyhounds who entered the college kennels for treatment.  I still remember the names of some famous winners with sadness because they died there.    A special favourite was Robert Robinson who had won the Connaught and Irish Cups.   He started favourite for the Waterloo Cup but was hard run, stressed and rushed back to the college -- too late.    Another that I was fond of was Robeen Printer the St Leger winner trained by George McKay at Coventry.  Before this lovely creature died from sepsis she had left a fine litter of pups.
After I had qualified and gone to Britain as an assistant or locum I learned of the urgent need for research into virus diseases like Distemper.  While assisting Mr Wentworth Elam at the Liverpool tracks I was very worried by the numbers of greyhounds who suffered agonising deaths.   I felt equally sorry for their trainers and more so for their young helpers who had to carry out the carcases because they lived in the kennels.

I had another depressing experience due to this virus after  I moved to Dublin with Jane in '49.  We lost a lovely brindle bitch that she was very fond of.  Indeed she still mentions her among the real friends we have known.   She was sired by the great "Quare Times " and  had looked very promising at ten months of age. 

The scandal that threatened the future of greyhound racing in Ireland and in Britain in 1949

In 1948  trainer Jim O'Meara introduced a very fast greyhound called Waggles to the Dublin racegoers.
On a visit back home I heard about him and called at the kennels to see him.   He looked and behaved like a good one and he was sound.   Jim also showed me his sister Miss Chancer and I was equally impressed with her.  When retired she produced an outstanding tracker called Silent Worship.  He recovered from a serious injury and was trained by Johnny Basset to win the Midland Flat.
 After two more good runs Waggles was purchased and taken across to  Essex.   When he did not appear on a British racecard after a month some greyhound followers were curious to know what had become of him.  Some assumed that he was running in an assumed name on some independent track.   Every new fawn dog appearing at some tracks was closely inspected.  After a few months a small fawn dog called Red Wind won two races in fast times.  A few Irish people living in Britain thought he looked  like Waggles. They spoke of their suspicions and a number of people went to see Red Wind wherever they saw his name among a list of runners.   Red Wind's fame grew as he continued to win races confined to puppies and more people began to suspect that he was Waggles.  Eventually the police were asked to investigate and it was proved in court that the suspicions were correct.

The greyhound fraternity in Ireland were embarrassed by the adverse publicity about one of our exports.  Questions were asked in the Irish Parliament and some members suggested that a statutory control board was needed.  Members of the Irish Coursing club proposed that tattoo marks should be inserted in the ears.  Some members of the public considered that this would cause some pain.  Others suggested that it would be cruel.  Lawyers proposed that some method of identification must be introduced to prevent any repeat of the scandal that followed this sale.  The export of greyhounds is important to the Irish economy and correspondence in the press gradually indicated more demand for a statutory body to control the industry.  I wrote a letter to James Dillon an influential Minister and another to Deputy Neil Blaney who had been a school mate and friend of mine.  I also wrote to Deputy Sean Flanagan whom I knew from Gaelic football.  His brother Seamus was the civil servant mainly responsible for the wording of the Bill.   Changes of government delayed the legislation but eventually in 1958  Bord Na gCon was established.

The Irish greyhound industry has  remained in a vibrant state and enjoys the confidence of the racegoers.  Self regulation has allowed British racing to continue contracting since 1940 and  it  now owes its existence to the bookmakers.

Everyone who knows me wonders why I wasted my time on Greyhound racing and I think it is time I told you why......

The short answer is that I loved dogs above all animals and I admired greyhounds for their nature and their speed.  Of the wild animals I was particularly fascinated by the hare because it could outrun every dog except the greyhound.  As a schoolboy I enjoyed seeing lurchers chasing hares on the heather at the foot of Muskish mountain.  They often got close enough to worry the quarry but were usually outwitted by it's expert turn.  When I was fifteen I got an old greyhound from a friend in Lifford.  On the way to the mountain with him I saw a hare in a flat meadow.  The hound spotted it too and I could not resist releasing him.  He killed it after the second turn.  I still remember my excitement and mixed emotion.  I was pleased for the dog but sorry for the hare that had been so agile, nimble and evasive -- now lying there --so still and ever so dead.

When I went to the veterinary college I was most interested in studying the injuries sustained by greyhounds and horses.   In my third year I stayed in the digs run by Mrs O 'Meara in Sandymount.   Her husband Jim usually had three or four greyhounds in training.   The rate for the digs was thirty bob a week but for me it was twenty five because I got up at six o,clock every morning to help Jim gallop the hounds on the strand before people arrived to exercise their terriers.   When Jim had runners at Shelbourne or Harolds Cross I often went with him to parade them before their races.   Jim introduced me to other trainers like Michael Collins, John O 'Connor, Jim Davis, Paddy Moclair, Danny Kelly and Paul McKenna.   I picked up some useful knowledge from all of them and Paul's nephew Gay remained a friend throughout his life.   Gay's sister Peg married Tom Lynch who was destined to train one of my all-time favourites.  This was Spanish Battleship the unique sixty two -  pound three times Irish Derby winner.  In the early years of the sport new tracks sprang up like mushrooms all over Britain. Up to 90,000 people were attracted to major meetings to see the best hounds though  fraudulent races and decisions were not uncommon from the start.   Forty years later when I established the  Greyhound Council to try saving what was left of our image I was joined by an honest gentleman who was involved at the beginning -- the highly respected Fred Whitehead.   Fred was the first manager at Belle Vue and the White City in Manchester.   The G.R.A. promoted him to the White City in London in '31.   The Greyhound Express which was sold for two pennies covered racing at the original six NGRC tracks.  The Editor Jack Gibbons wanted to also report racing from the independent Hackney which was attracting equally large crowds.  But he was baulked by the G.R.A. :  They refused to let him have their list of runners.     Fred resigned from the G.R.A. and became general manager of Hackney & Hendon.   Against Fred's wishes this company joined the NGRC four years later.   However he remained with them until 1966 .  By then he concluded that greyhound racing had lost its soul.   Without statutory control he saw no secure future for it and he retired to live in Brighton.

I was naive enough to hope that the NGRC would adopt my democratic policy. Instead, they somehow managed to persuade the innocent man who was leader of the penalising gang to ''warn me off''. The charge was ''supporting tracks operating outside their rules''.  These tracks were in fact equally licensed by the law as they were. They banned me for only six months, expecting me to come crawling back begging to train a dog under their rotten rules.  Shortly afterwards, I met the noble leader one day at Sutheby's, and he said he was sorry.   I told him not to worry, because I would never be under their rules again  even if  I lived  to be a hundred.

We had 750 members paying the £1 subscription which enabled us to sponsor races for the first year.  Then my supporters began disappearing like flies on a November day.    I continued visiting the odd track and presenting trophies with funds that my wife and kids wanted -- nearly as much as --the struggling tracks did. Then in '94 the Sporting Life Directors -- to their credit -- announced £750 for a race at Bolton for entries in stud book names.  But it was strangled before it was read by many.   The NGRC secretary who was an ex-trainer announced that 'his' trainers were not allowed to support this race.    

Here is a list of nearly all the closed tracks I knew or heard of .

   

Armadale   Arms Park,   Ashfield, Askern  Ayr   Barnsley  Bedford  Bedwelty   Berwick    Biggin Hill,  Blackburn   Blackpool  Blantyre  Bolton  Boston   Boundary Park,   Bournemouth, Bradford – City,  &  Greenfield,   Brandon,  Bream  Sands,  Breck  Park,  Brimington, Brookville Park, Burnley, Bury,  Bury St Edmunds,   Caledonian Park,   Cambridge, Canterbury  Carfin,  Carntyne,  Catford,  Central,  Charlton,   Chester,  Chesterfield, Chesterton   Chingford Road,   Clacton,   Clapton,   Cleveland Park,   Cleethorpes   Coalville,  Coatbridge   Cowbrige  Cowdenbeath  Corbie Wood,    Cradley Heath,   Crossgates  Dagenham  (2)    Darnall   Derby   Dundee   Dunfermline   Earls Barton,   Eastville  Exeter Falkirk Feltham Firhill, Firs Park,Fforesffath  Galston  Gateshead   Glastonbury  Gloucester   Gosforth  Gretna  Hackney   Halifax  Hanley   Harringay   Hartlepool   Hawick   Hazel Grove,   Hendon    Highgate, Hinckley   Hull   Hunslet   Huntingdon   Hyde Park,   Ipswich  Irvine   Keighley  Kilmarnock   Kings Heath, Kinsley,  Kirkcaldy   Knowle   Larkhall   Leeds --- Elland road, Fullerton & Parkside,  Leicester  Linlithgow   Long Eaton,  Loudwater  Luton Maidstone Mansfield  March,   Marsh Barton,     Martins Field,   Melton Mowbray,   Methil   Mildenhall  Milton Keynes,   Motherwell,  Mount Vernon, New Cross,  Newport   Newton-Abbot,  Northampton  Norton Canes, Norwich City, Oldham ParkRoyal, Peterborough, Plymouth, Poolstock (Wigan) Portsmouth   Powderhall   Portobello  Preston   Ramsgate  Rayleigh  Reading   Rochdale  Rochester , Rotherham   Rye House, Salford   Scarlet Park,  Seaforth   Shotts   Skewen   Slough   Somercoates   Southall  Southend  Southampton   South Shields,    Stamford Bridge,    Spennymoor  Stainforth,    Stanley in Liverpool,  and the other in Durham,  Stenhouse Stockport  Stockton,  Stoke,   St. Bernards, in Edinburgh  St. Helens,  Stevenston   Stone House,  Stratford,  Sutton in Ashfield,  Swadlincote  Swaffham   Swansea  Swindon,  Syston   Taffs Well,    Tamworth  Taunton   Temple Mills,    Thornton,  Torquay,  Townhead   Tranent    Wakefield    Warrington    Wallyford   Walthamstow  Workington  Wandsworth   Warwick  Watford   Wembley   West  Ham,   Weymouth  West Houghton, Wheatley- Hill,  Whitwood   Wigan  Willenhall   Wilmslow,  Winsford   Wisbech   Wishaw, Workington, Worksop    Wombwell - Hough & Station Road ,  Yarmouth, Yeovil  and seven  White  Cities - in  Cardiff,  London, Glasgow, Nottingham,  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Newcastle.    There were also about six with names I cannot remember.  I have had a runner at one hundred and thirty three of them and I have been to another twenty four.

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This is the wide end of this pear-shaped track on my first tour of Australia in '95.   It was a memorable view.  I had never before seen such a safe track.   For the rest of the day I kept asking myself  why I did not come here 47 years ago ? - when I wanted to. I would have avoided the anguish of seeing at least 50 unfortunate greyhounds with career -ending injuries during every year of my working life..