The 1971 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year was the 46th year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and the 45th year of greyhound racing in Ireland.

Roll of honour Major Winners Award Name of Winner1971 English Greyhound Derby Dolores Rocket1971 Irish Greyhound Derby Sole Aim 1971 Scottish Greyhound Derby Not held 1971 Welsh Greyhound Derby Spectres Dream Greyhound Trainer of the Year Herbert WhiteGreyhound of the Year Dolores RocketIrish Greyhound of the YearIvy Hall Flash

Summary The annual National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) returns were released, with totalisator turnover at £56,188,971 and attendances recorded at 7,119,398 from 5808 meetings.

Dolores Rocket was Greyhound of the Year after winning the English Greyhound Derby at White City and St Leger at Wembley. Her performances shone through during a difficult year that saw the closure of four tracks. The tracks were Kings Heath Stadium, which had only just recently been purchased by the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) under their GRA Property Trust, Charlton Stadium (also GRA), the City Stadium, Norwich and Houghton Stadium in Durham.

Tracks Hendon was the first track to declare decimal dividends and Milton Keynes (known as Bletchley or the Groveway) switched from independent status to full NGRC status.

Competitions Following the closure of Charlton, three events came to an end. The Olympic would return in 1979 at Brighton and the Greenwich Cup was moved to Catford but the Cloth of Gold was discontinued. The Welsh Greyhound Derby at Cardiff Arms Park and the Grand Prix at Walthamstow were given the overdue status of being an official classic status competition, by the NGRC.

The Eclipse was switched to Hall Green for a two-year period.

Sherrys Prince successfully defended his Grand National, breaking the track record twice, first recording 29.26 seconds in the heats and then 29.20 in the semi-finals. The only other greyhounds that had achieved double Grand National glory were Juvenile Classic (1940) and Blossom of Annagura (1950). Dolores Rocket won the Spring Cup over 700 yards at Wimbledon and set a track record at Crayford before victory in the Wembley Spring Cup.

Don't Gambol won a second successive Scurry Gold Cup at Clapton and in the year ending annual Duke of Edinburgh Cup, Leeds provided a shock by reaching the final and beating Clapton to lift the trophy.

News A change in the betting laws allowed tracks to hold an extra 26 race meetings per year. Crayford & Bexleyheath Stadium was the latest track to change to a contract trainer system, which led to Henry Parson's 33-year training career coming to an end after he joined the racing office. Slough and Reading followed suit soon after. Another trainer Stan Gray also retired after 35 years at Southend and Frank Melville left Rochester Stadium for Harringay Stadium, Melville was replaced by Jimmy Keane.

The demise of the GRA Kings Heath Stadium kennels in addition to the demolition of the Hall Green kennels, meant that the two remaining Birmingham GRA kennel trainers, Eric O'Connor and Peter Harding, were relocated to Powderhall. The Edinburgh track also brought in contract trainers as well (some from Kings Heath). Hall Green Racing Manager Sid Wood moved to Belle Vue Stadium and Bob Rowe (son of Leicester Racing Manager John Rowe) filled the position at Hall Green.

The experiment by GRA to introduce eight dog races continued with trials at Harringay and races at Belle Vue and White City Stadium (Manchester). The Northern Flat took place as an eight dog competition, the first major event to do so. Trainers were also allowed to seed their greyhounds wide for the first time.

Ireland In Ireland the Bord na gCon introduced drug testing for the first time. Sole Aim was a rare English winner of the 1971 Irish Greyhound Derby which featured one of strongest entries for years.

The Bord na gCon introduced drugs testing for the first time and experiment with the procedures at Shelbourne Park.

Blissful Pride trained by Leslie Mcnair wins his 18th race from 19 starts following victory in the Anglo-Irish International at White City. The Irish star also won the Irish Oaks.

Principal UK races

Grand National, White City (April 17 525y h, £500) PosName of GreyhoundTrainerSP TimeTrap 1st Sherrys Prince Colin West 1-3f 29.22 62nd Afore You Go Randy Singleton 4-1 29.32 33rd Adamstown ValleyJoe Pickering 9-1 29.72 54th Faythe Man 16-1 30.20 15th Yankalife 50-1 30.28 46th Rogley SundownJoe Pickering 50-1 30.40 2

Oaks, Harringay (May 14, 525y, £1,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Short Cake David Geggus 5-1 28.98 42nd Leap And Run John Bassett 7-1 29.01 63rd Drive On Tom Johnston Jr. 5-1 29.19 34th Miss Finch 10-3 29.23 25th Wee Garryduff Vicky Holloway 6-1 29.35 16th Pallas Daisy Bill Adams 6-4f 29.49 5

Gold Collar, Catford (May 15, 570y, £1,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Down Your Way Freddie Warrell 5-2 33.10 42nd Spectre Jockey David Power 2-1f 33.22 33rd Puff Pastry Sid Ryall 7-1 33.66 54th Spotted Rory Paddy McEllistrim 9-4 34.00 65th Michaels Bar Phil Rees Sr. 16-1 34.42 16th Mind Out 25-1 34.66 2

The Grand Prix, Walthamstow (May 25, 600y, £1,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Breach's Buzzard Colin McNally 4-5f 40.00 52nd Baton Jack Durkin 8-1 40.2463rd Commutering Frank Melville 5-1 40.36 44th Keen Rebel 4-1 40.48 15th Breachs Buster Reg Young 12-1 40.64 26th Step Out 20-1 41.04 3

Welsh Derby, Arms Park (Jul 3, 525y £755)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Spectres Dream Hugo Spencer 16-1 29.22 42nd Royal Reward 7-1 29.38 63rd Micks Pride Bob Burls 9-4 30.02 14th Keen Santa 16-1 30.14 55th Mona Movealong George Curtis 10-1 30.20 26th King Lester Joe Pickering4-5f 30.68 3

Scurry Gold Cup, Clapton (Jul 10, 400y £1,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Don't Gambol Paddy McEvoy 4-11f 22.73 52nd One Lost Day Paddy McEvoy 11-2 22.87 23rd Banogue Tom Pam Heasman 33-1 23.21 44th Kinloch Jewel Jim Hookway 33-1 23.31 15th Idle Thought 3-1 23.32 36th Alluvion Bill Kelly 20-1 23.406

St Leger, Wembley (Aug 23, 700y, £1,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Dolores Rocket Herbert White 1-2f 40.03 12nd Spectre Jockey David Power 8-1 40.15 43rd Shyan Darling Miss M.Casey 4-1 40.39 64th Laura Gay Barbara Brockhouse 25-1 40.49 25th Knock Off Harry Bamford 5-1 40.65 36th Todos KingpinJack Durkin 40-1 40.97 5

Laurels, Wimbledon (Sep 10, 500y, £5,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Black Andrew Randy Singleton 11-2 27.96 22nd Spectres Dream Hugo Spencer 25-1 28.10 33rd Eleventh Wonder 6-1 28.18 64th Supreme Fun Sid Ryall 5-4f 28.20 55th Sandy Desert Paddy McEvoy 10-1 00.00 46th Dactars Speed Stan Martin 9-4 00.00 1

Cesarewitch, West Ham (Oct 1, 600y, £1,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Whisper Billy Charlie Coyle 50-1 33.45 12nd Rosemount Gunner Bob Burls 33-1 33.48 23rd Shyan Darling Dave Geggus 8-1 33.56 44th Merry Colonel Tom Johnston Jr. 8-1 33.64 55th Supreme Fun Sid Ryall 6-4f 33.65 66th Dolores Rocket Herbert White 11-10f 34.05 3

Totalisator returns

The totalisator returns declared to the licensing authorities for the year 1971 are listed below.

StadiumTurnover £London (White City) 6,287,878London (Wimbledon) 3,768,449London (Harringay) 3,574,423London (Walthamstow) 2,932,233London (Wembley) 2,560,469London (Catford) 2,301,796Manchester (Belle Vue) 1,904,347London (Clapton) 1,720,176Romford 1,700,672London (West Ham) 1,674,667Edinburgh (Powderhall) 1,517,717Birmingham (Hall Green) 1,362,277Brighton & Hove 1,265,479Manchester (White City) 1,200,428Birmingham (Perry Barr, old)1,113,114Newcastle (Brough Park) 1,112,671Crayford & Bexleyheath 1,096,819Glasgow (Shawfield) 967,230

StadiumTurnover £Slough 953,856Leeds (Elland Road) 908,150Southend-on-Sea 895,601London (Charlton) 847,403Wolverhampton (Monmore)814,167Sheffield (Owlerton) 808,247London (Hackney) 732,880Bristol (Eastville) 700,500London (Hendon) 675,692Gloucester & Cheltenham 674,521Newcastle (Gosforth)623,757Glasgow (White City) 621,898Manchester (Salford) 589,134Willenhall 572,990Derby541,628Cardiff (Arms Park) 525,511Rochester & Chatham 462,786Poole458,512

StadiumTurnover £Liverpool (White City) 455,876Ramsgate (Dumpton Park) 443,434Oxford409,444Reading (Oxford Road)407,451Portsmouth 351,230Cradley Heath 347,657Glasgow (Carntyne) 292,160Middlesbrough 287,505Rayleigh (Essex) 276,838Leicester (Blackbird Rd) 274,485Hull (Old Craven Park) 248,472Preston 242,124Wakefield 206,653Swindon 199,620Birmingham (Kings Heath) 117,781Norwich (City) 109,336Milton Keynes50,827

References