The 1988 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year was the 63rd year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and the 62nd year of greyhound racing in Ireland.

Roll of honour Major Winners Award Name of Winner1988 English Greyhound Derby Hit The Lid 1988 Irish Greyhound Derby Make History 1988 Scottish Greyhound Derby Killouragh Chris Greyhound Trainer of the Year John McGee Sr. Greyhound of the Year Hit The Lid Irish Greyhound of the Year Make History Trainers Championship Ernie Gaskin Sr.

Summary The sport was experiencing a mini boom, the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) released the annual returns, with totalisator turnover up nearly 30% at £98,476,532 and attendances up over 10% recorded at 4,432,117 from 5465 meetings.

John McGee head man to Fred Wiseman was granted a trainer's licence and took charge of the kennel. He had a remarkable year as a rookie trainer winning the Greyhound Trainer of the Year and winning the 1988 English Greyhound Derby with Hit the Lid, the white and brindle dog owned by Fred Smith was also voted Greyhound of the Year. McGee also trained Sard who won the Gold Collar at Catford Stadium.

Tracks Despite the boom in business five tracks closed, Hull, Maidstone, Gosforth, Derby and Preston all closed. Hull finished because the landlords Hull Kingston Rovers moved to a new stadium. The closure of Gosforth left the city of Newcastle with just one licensed track at Brough Park. Preston and Derby had both been opened by the same company in 1933 and after 55 years of different owners found themselves closing at the same time. Powderhall would change ownership twice, it was sold by the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) to local businessman Norrie Rowan for £1.8m, who then sold it on himself to Coral for an instant profit at £2.2m. The GRA lost the rights to the Scottish Greyhound Derby because they no longer owned any tracks in Scotland. Ellesmere Port Stadium started racing on 29 February.

News The NGRC announced that major competitions would no longer be listed as Classic races but instead they would be classed as Category One and Two races based on prize money levels. This led to many tracks that had previously never had the opportunity to hold a classic race offering increased prize money in order for their events to match the traditional classics in terms of status. The positive was that prize money increased, the negative was the devaluing of some of the sports most famous races in the following years.

Grass finally disappeared from greyhound racing when Hove became the last course to remove the turf as the circuit switched to sand. The first computerised form system called Formbank was introduced, created by Peter Shotton it revolutionised Racing Office practices and was the advent to modern day systems.

Trainer Barney O'Connor famous for running at Walthamstow died.

Competitions The Stewards' Cup at Walthamstow was claimed by Westmead Move, now four years old. Another bitch Exile Energy was the winner of the St Leger at Wembley, the black bitch had made the Grand Prix final and brought Gary Baggs back to the public attention for the first time since his split with Towfiq Al-Aali, his leading owner the previous year. Aali had his own success with Ernie Gaskin when his Derby finalist Comeragh Boy won the year ending Laurels. Gaskin also secured a trainers position at Walthamstow.

The successes of bitches during 1988 continued with Wendys Dream, who won the Oaks at Wimbledon, the Byrne International and Puppy Oaks.

Principal UK races

Daily Mirror Grand National, Hall Green (Mar 26, 474m h, £3,000) PosName of GreyhoundTrainerSP TimeTrap 1st Breeks Rocket Dinky Luckhurst 5-1 30.09 52nd Mackintosh Wishes 16-1 30.15 33rd Melville Bob Phil Rees Jr. 5-1 30.23 64th Parktown Ranger Tom Foster 6-4f 30.24 25th Rosden Pilot Norah McEllistrim 9-4 30.42 46th French Pirate 25-1 30.62 1

BBC TV Trophy, Hall Green (April 8, 815m, £4,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Minnies Siren Terry Duggan 16-1 52.50+ 62nd Decoy Princess Mrs D Lucas 11-452.84 13rd Decoy Madonna Mrs D Lucas 7-153.10 54th Silver Mask Bill Masters 9-2 53.22 45th Role of Fame Arthur Hitch 9-4f 53.36 26th Super Duchess Kim Marlow 9-253.64 4 +Track Record

David Richardson Scurry Gold Cup, Catford (Jul 16, 385m, £6,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Farncombe Black Ernie Gaskin Sr. 8-13f 23.53 32nd Lissadell Tiger Ernie Gaskin Sr. 4-1 23.61 63rd Why That Phil Henwood 50-1 23.87 24th My Tallyho Two Arthur Hitch 7-2 23.88 55th Dempsey Flash Arthur Boyce 33-1 23.96 46th Boo Favourite Les Lawrence 20-1 24.00 1

Scottish Greyhound Derby, Powderhall (Aug 30, 465m, £7,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Killouragh Chris Pete Beaumont 6-4f 28.75 32nd Karens Champ Gary Baggs 6-1 28.78 53rd Festival WonderMatt O'Sullivan 4-1 28.79 14th Lacca Spark Hugh Davies 40-1 28.82 25th Claremont Moral Pete Beaumont 33-1 29.00 46th Greenpark Fox Michael O'Sullivan 7-4 29.04 6

John Humphreys Gold Collar, Catford (Sep 17, 555m, £6,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Sard John McGee Sr. 6-4 34.61 32nd Bankers Benefit Adam Jackson 8-1 34.83 13rd Down West Terry Atkins 50-1 35.23 54th Blue Emblem Ernie Gaskin Sr. 6-1 35.33 25th Silver Chance John Honeysett 20-1 35.36 46th Curryhills Press Barry Silkman 5-4f 35.39 6

Track Bookmakers Cesarewitch, Belle Vue (Sep 24, 853m, £3,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Proud To Run Harry White 7-1 56.33 12nd Decoy Madonna Mrs D Lucas 2-1jf 56.47 33rd Ballylarkin Mini Lionel Maxen 2-1jf 56.5944th Manx Marajaz Nigel Saunders 7-2 56.87 55th Astrosyn Trace Derek Knight 10-1 57.03 6N/R Sams Wonderboy

John Power Grand Prix, Walthamstow (Oct 8, 640m, £7,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Digby Bridge John Malcolm50-1 40.14 32nd Bad Intentions John Ripley 25-1 40.22 13rd Exile Energy Gary Baggs 3-1 40.40 54th Going For Glory Kim Marlow 5-1 40.50 65th Bankers BenefitAdam Jackson 5-1 40.84 46th Waltham Abbey Adam Jackson 11-10f 00.00 2

Oaks, Wimbledon (Oct 29, 480m, £6,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Wendys Dream Tommy Foster 4-5f 28.81 22nd Carriglea Ese Paddy Hancox 7-1 29.01 13rd Hillville Blonde Bertie Gaynor 12-1 29.25 34th Barnacuiga Lass Geoff De Mulder 16-1 29.37 65th Westmead Move Natalie Savva 3-1 29.38 56th Kilbeg Judy Kenny Linzell 16-1 29.60 4

St Leger, Wembley (Nov 18, 655m, £8,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Exile Energy Gary Baggs 9-2 39.76 42nd Westmead Pulse Natalie Savva 4-1 39.94 53rd Down West Terry Atkins 14-1 40.08 64th Jerpoint Diamond Bernie Doyle 1-1f 40.14 15th Super Supreme Ken Reynolds 11-2 40.20 36th Roseville Jackie Geoff De Mulder 33-1 40.36 2

Ike Morris Laurels, Wimbledon (Dec 27, 460m, £6,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Comeragh Boy Ernie Gaskin Sr. 6-4f 27.86 62nd Pond Hurricane Harry Williams 4-1 27.96 13rd Attractive Son Ger McKenna 6-1 27.97 24th Captains Trail Phil Rees Jr. 3-1 28.13 35th Paper Whisper Arthur Hitch 33-1 28.19 56th Festival Wonder John McGee Sr. 10-1 28.63 4

Totalisator returns

The totalisator returns declared to the National Greyhound Racing Club for the year 1988 are listed below.

StadiumTurnover £London (Wimbledon) 16,593,590London (Walthamstow) 16,355,089Romford 7,418,073Brighton & Hove 6,597,798London (Catford) 6,277,629London (Wembley) 5,943,058Birmingham (Hall Green) 4,315,543Manchester (Belle Vue)3,538,593Crayford 3,109,417Oxford2,294,967Edinburgh (Powderhall) 2,147,110

StadiumTurnover £Glasgow (Shawfield) 2,009,688Newcastle (Brough Park) 1,919,854Sheffield (Owlerton) 1,782,333Ramsgate 1,747,160Wolverhampton (Monmore)1,657,914Portsmouth 1,529,916Yarmouth 1,363,609Reading 1,218,086Swindon 1,100,563Bristol 1,057,112Milton Keynes1,025,807

StadiumTurnover £Canterbury 950,524London (Hackney) 848,834Rye House 648,808Poole647,432Hull (Old Craven Park) 603,508Henlow (Bedfordshire) 595,251Peterborough 417,070Cradley Heath 400,748Middlesbrough 369,815Nottingham 344,331Swaffham 305,964

References