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..
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