The 1993 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year was the 68th year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and the 67th year of greyhound racing in Ireland.

Roll of honour Major Winners Award Name of Winner1993 English Greyhound Derby Ringa Hustle 1993 Irish Greyhound Derby Daleys Denis 1993 Scottish Greyhound Derby New Level Greyhound Trainer of the Year John McGee Sr. Greyhound of the Year Heavenly Lady Irish Greyhound of the Year Ringa HustleTrainers Championship Linda Mullins

Summary The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) released the annual returns, with totalisator turnover at £88,170,111 and attendances recorded at 3,859,498 from 6054 meetings.

The Linda Mullins trained Heavenly Lady won the 1993 Greyhound of the Year after collecting 17 of the 21 votes available. The black bitch won 25 of her 49 races including the Golden Jacket, Cearns Memorial and TV Trophy. Ringa Hustle was voted Irish Greyhound of the Year after winning the 1993 English Greyhound Derby.

John McGee won the Greyhound Trainer of the Year for the sixth successive year.

The first ever British Greyhound Racing Fund budget of £840,000 was distributed as follows - £210,000 to drug testing, £248,000 to chromatography, £180,000 in track grants, £100,000 in prize money, £50,000 to a national inter track and £42,000 to the Retired Greyhound Trust.

News The Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) parent company Wembley plc. suffered financial difficulties having to service a £13 million debt. The company's American greyhound operation saw profits fall from £5.9 to £3.3 million. The British tracks were faring better making a £2.1 million profit but that made little difference to the overall debt problems.

The debt ridden Brent Walker the owners of Hackney Wick Stadium were on the verge of selling William Hill to avoid administration.

The inconsistency of chromatography is highlighted during the Oaks at Wimbledon Stadium, the pre-meeting test for a bitch called Ballinderry Gown indicates a problem and she is withdrawn from the first round, an immediate second is taken and is negative. The chromatography system has been widely criticised as being inaccurate and unreliable and although used at all licensed tracks the decision is made to phase out the system. The NGRC plans for a new more reliable system to be put into place with future samples taken by 'the flying squad' (members of unannounced staff from the NGRC taking random samples). The samples would then be tested at the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory (HFL).

Mick Smith becomes Racing Manager at Wembley and Simon Harris switched to Wimbledon from Hall Green to be replaced by Gary Woodward. Dave Lawrence steps in at Bristol to replace the parting Woodward. Dave Baldwin replaces Dave Gunson at Sheffield. Trainer changes during the year saw Derby winning trainer Tony Meek leave Hall Green, David Mullins leave Sunderland for Catford and Pa Fitzgerald joined Reading as a trainer in his own right after helping Patsy Byrne for many years. Reading would also announce the arrival of champion trainer John McGee, his third track in four years. Reading continued to be in the news and this time it was because they increased their Reading Masters prize to a fabulous £20,000. Ken Peckham died just seven years after the exploits of the brilliant Scurlogue Champ. Manx Treasure enjoying success at stud died of cancer aged just three and a half.

Poor Sue retired with a race record of 77 open race wins from 157 races (a new record for open race wins).

Competitions Kildare Slippy made his third consecutive Grand National final but age was getting the better of him as he was easily beaten by favourite Arfur Daley. Kind of Magic trained by Litzi Miller went one place better than the previous year in the Scurry Gold Cup final at Catford Stadium and this time lifted the trophy. Beaten finalist Ardcollum Hilda achieved a good win the following month when she won the Gold Collar at Catford Stadium over a longer distance at the same track.

Redwood Girl trained by Ernies Gaskin Sr. won the Grand Prix at Walthamstow Stadium, the competition had attracted a good entry and in the final the brindle bitch defeated hot favourite Loch Bo Anchor competing in his second classic final and Heavenly Lady. She would also reach the Oaks final towards the end of the year finishing third behind Pearls Girl. Derby finalist Hypnotic Stag won the Blue Riband and Olympic.

Principal UK races

Daily Mirror/Sporting Life Grand National, Hall Green (Mar 31, 474m h, £5,000) PosName of GreyhoundTrainerSP TimeTrap 1st Arfur Daley Bert Meadows 5-4f 28.89 22nd Ring Patriot Gordon Hodson 25-1 29.09 43rd Top Show Derek Knight 5-1 29.19 64th Shanavulin Jacko Peter Payne 10-1 29.25 35th Jolly Joker Philip Rees Jr. 12-1 29.37 16th Kildare Slippy Paddy Hancox 2-1 29.69 5

BBC TV Trophy, Wimbledon (Apr 20, 820m, £6,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Heavenly Lady Linda Mullins 6-1 51.40 12nd Poor Sue Stan Kennett 20-1 51.56 43rd Hillview Sand Kenny Linzell 16-1 51.68 24th Airmount Flash Jimmy Gibson 11-4 51.74 35th Westmead Birdie Olabode Ayegun 5-4f 51.75 66th Nice Enecee Dawn Milligan 5-1 53.33 5

Reading Masters, Reading (May 1, 465m, £20,000) PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Im His Eric Jordan 5-4f 28.09 42nd Bonney Seven John Coleman 5-2 28.27 53rd Exile Again Tony Meek 10-1 28.29 24th Glengar Chipper Mrs L Berry 14-1 28.33 65th Ettas Star Pete Wellon 5-1 28.61 16th King Size S Burke 5-1 28.63 3

Regal Scottish Derby, Shawfield (May 15, 500m, £20,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st New Level Harry Williams 3-1 30.22 32nd Unique Bay Linda Mullins 5-4f 30.23 53rd Premier Slippy J Johnston Ire 8-1 30.39 24th Droopys Slave Charlie Lister 8-1 30.40 15th Highmoor Valley Pixton 16-1 30.58 46th Old Money Barry Silkman 7-2 30.60 6

Fosters Scurry Gold Cup, Catford (Jul 10, 385m, £2,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Kind of Magic Litzi Miller 5-1 23.82 32nd Quality Arms Paddy Milligan 6-1 23.90 43rd Ardcollum Hilda Patsy Byrne 5-1 24.10 14th Crossdrum Damien Shirley Riches 25-1 24.22 55th Dell Dale Ernie Gaskin Sr. 9-4 24.42 66th Slippy Corner Paddy Milligan 6-4f 24.52 2

John Humphreys Gold Collar, Catford (Sep 18, 555m, £7,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Ardcollum Hilda Patsy Byrne 5-4f 34.84 62nd Seskin Support Henry Tasker 4-1 35.04 13rd Loch Bo Anchor John McGee Sr. 5-2 35.18 34th Bridies Secret Derek Knight 25-1 35.42 45th Shropshire Nick Brian Clemenson 25-1 35.46 56th Blackstairs Boy Brian Clemenson 7-1 35.70 2

Fosters Cesarewitch, Belle Vue (Sep 25, 853m, £10,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Killenagh Dream Charlie Lister 20-1 55.21 32nd Placid Who 5-1 55.61 53rd Spenwood Magic Charlie Lister 11-4 55.63 64th Redwood Pippin Ernie Gaskin Sr. 5-2f 55.65 15th Killeenagh Bibi Barbara Smith 7-1 56.23 26th Mossfield Fire Russ Kinsey 4-1 56.31 4

Laurent-Perrier Grand Prix, Walthamstow (Oct 9, 640m, £7,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Redwood Girl Ernie Gaskin5-1 39.89 12nd Loch Bo Anchor John McGee Sr.4-5f 40.05 53rd My Ciara Linda Mullins 25-1 40.13 64th Capolla Tom John Coleman 33-1 40.37 45th Heavenly Lady Linda Mullins 11-2 40.4726th Gunboat Jeff Joe Kenny 9-2 40.48 3

Ike Morris Laurels, Wimbledon (Oct 12, 460m, £7,500)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Slipaway Jaydee John McGee Sr. 9-4 27.61 42nd Toms Lodge Norman Johnson 4-1 27.75 23rd Farmer Patrick Terry Dartnall 7-4f 27.89 64th Alans WonderNorman Johnson 16-1 28.03 55th Glengar Chipper Mrs L Berry 12-1 28.15 16th Our Timmy James Barrett 5-1 28.29 3

Wendy Fair St Leger, Wembley (Nov 12, 655m, £10,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Galleydown Boy John Copplestone 13-2 40.06 12nd Gunboat Jeff Patsy Byrne 6-4f 40.14 53rd Highmoor Glen Charlie Lister 3-1 40.24 64th Loch Bo Anchor John McGee Sr. 14-1 40.30 25th Jubilee Rebecca Gordon Rooks 9-1 40.33 36th The Great Gonzo Natalie Savva 6-1 40.35 4

St Marys Hospital Oaks, Wimbledon (Dec 18, 480m, £6,000)PosName of Greyhound TrainerSP Time Trap 1st Pearls Girl Sam Sykes 8-11f 28.55 52nd Simply Free Charlie Lister 7-4 28.59 13rd Redwood Girl Ernie Gaskin Sr. 12-1 28.83 34th Stouke Tania Walter Cowans 12-1 28.89 65th Fast Off Terry Dartnall 6-1 29.15 46th Westmead Mystic Natalie Savva 25-1 29.17 2

Totalisator returns

The totalisator returns declared to the National Greyhound Racing Club for the year 1993 are listed below.

StadiumTurnover £London (Walthamstow) 12,792,314London (Wimbledon) 11,454,253Romford 7,218,562Birmingham (Hall Green) 5,253,442Brighton & Hove 5,119,748London (Catford) 4,875,779Manchester (Belle Vue)4,579,486London (Wembley) 3,291,898Crayford 2,775,235Glasgow (Shawfield) 2,665,568Sheffield (Owlerton) 1,935,404Sunderland 1,934,577

StadiumTurnover £Birmingham (Perry Barr) 1,902,770Newcastle (Brough Park) 1,867,195Peterborough 1,754,275Oxford1,545,335Yarmouth 1,472,310Portsmouth 1,459,270Reading 1,373,859Edinburgh (Powderhall) 1,303,237Ramsgate 1,293,515Bristol 1,216,128Canterbury 882,275Nottingham 810,403

StadiumTurnover £Milton Keynes709,117Swindon 684,719Doncaster (Stainforth) 632,472London (Hackney) 542,700Henlow (Bedfordshire) 444,600Cradley Heath 366,518Hull (New Craven Park) 353,507Mildenhall 94,927Middlesbrough 94,475Rye House 55,154Swaffham 36,427

References