Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium

Brighton and Hove Greyhound Stadium
Location Brighton and Hove
Operator Gala Coral Group
Opened 1928
Tenants
Greyhound racing

Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium is a greyhound racing track located in the Hove Park area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex.[1] The stadium also has a restaurant and a number of bars and is owned by the Gala Coral Group.

Competitions

Track records

[2]

Distance Greyhound Time Date
285m Jimmy Lollie 15.89 07.10.2010
515m Barnfield On Air 29.20 31.07.2007
695m Caloona Striker 40.73 21.06.2005
740m Form of Magic 43.59 30.03.2002
930m Roxholme Magic 56.18 30.07.2015
515mH Junior Mac 29.83 27.07.2010

Origins

The plans for the site on Nevill Road and adjoining Hove Park were unanimously passed by the Brighton Corporation in January 1928. Charles Wakeling, Freddie Arnold and Major Carlos Campbell instigated the construction and the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) had shares in the company called the Greyhound Racing Association (Brighton) Ltd.[3]

Opening

The first race to be held at the track known as the Hove Sports Stadium was the Hove Stakes and took place on 2 June 1928. 'Costs' the 7-4f won the 525 yards race for trainer Toone and won £16 for his owner W.G.Hooper who was a solicitor by trade.[4]

Pre-War History

Originally the track was primitive with the hare being wound around the course by hand and it took ten years of racing before electric lighting was installed. A hand operated tote was installed in 1932 but suffered from the government ban on tote betting the same year until the 1934 Betting Act reversed the ban. In 1940 the resident kennels moved to Morley Lodge, Albourne, Henfield, West Sussex. This purpose built kennel facility for over 200 hounds offered a modern brick facility and each range had its own grass paddock. Breeding kennels were set up on a farm in Sussex and rearing kennels were built in nearby Cumberland. The circuit was described as easy swinging turns of 160 yards and short straights of 85 yards and distances were 310, 525, 565 and 800 yards with an 'Inside MacWhirter Trackless' hare. Amenities included a club in both enclosures (the Nevill Road Club and the Orchard Road Club) and there were dining facilities in the Grand enclosure.[5]

1945-1980

After the war the company was called the Brighton & Hove Stadium Ltd and in 1948 the stadium introduced a new event called the Regency. The Managing Director Charles Wakeling who was also the chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. died leaving the stadium in the hands of Major Carlos Campbell. Campbell died in 1958 leaving the controlling interest of the shares in the hands of the GRA. They brought in Gerard Kealey as General Manager and Peter Shotton as Racing Manager and the pair went about building up the reputation of the seaside track. During the sixties racing was held on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, in addition to the restaurant there was three buffet bars and seven licensed bars. The circumference had changed to 491 yards with distances of 550, 725 and 880 yards with an 'Inside The track trainers consisted of Fred Lugg, Arthur Hancock, Birch & Gunner Smith Sumner' hare.[6]

Brighton introduced travelling payments for open race trainers to encourage entries to travel south and the Sussex Cup was inaugurated in 1972 followed by the Brighton Belle for bitches in 1975.[7] In 1976 a significant deal was struck in when Coral Leisure purchasing Brighton and Romford. Des Nicholls was brought in as Racing Manager before being replaced by Jim Layton a few years later. A fourth major race called the Olympic was introduced in 1979

1981-present

Brighton greyhound Ballyregan Bob trained by George Curtis became a household name after breaking the world record in 1986 by winning 32 consecutive races. One year later the stadium became the last course in Britain to remove their turf surface changing to all-sand. Gerard Kealey died in 1989 and Peter Shotton became General Manager (he had returned to Brighton from Wembley).[8]

In 1991 Coral announced that their greyhound tracks would be sold to fund the purchase of 73 bingo halls from Granada Theatre Ltd but despite the deal being struck and subsequent birth of Gala Bingo the tracks remained under the ownership of Coral. However Coral did lose a court case around the same time to the Alliance & Leicester forcing them to relinquish land where the Orchard Road enclosure stood. A new generation of trainers arrived at Hove in the 1990s, Brian Clemenson was three times Champion Trainer and his assistant Alan (Claude) Gardiner replaced Bill Masters when he retired. Peter Miller replaced Jim Layton as Racing Manager in 1994.[9]

Today the track remains one of the premier venues in the country and attracts some of the best trainers in the country including recent acquisitions Seamus Cahill and Norah McEllistrim.

Achievements

References

  1. ↑ "Track Search". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 25 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "Track records". Greyhound Data.
  3. ↑ Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing, pages 36-38. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
  4. ↑ Barnes, Julia (1988). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File, pages 73-78. Ringpress Books. ISBN 0-948955-15-5.
  5. ↑ Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing, pages 36-38. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
  6. ↑ Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing, pages 36-38. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
  7. ↑ Genders, Roy (1975). The Greyhound and Racing Greyhound, pages 95-96. Page Brothers (Norwich). ISBN 0-85020-0474.
  8. ↑ Fry, Paul (1995). The Official NGRC Greyhound Racing Yearbook, pages 216-217. Ringpress Books. ISBN 186054-010-4.
  9. ↑ Hobbs, Jonathan (2007). Greyhound Annual 2008, page 189. Raceform. ISBN 978-1-905153-53-4.

Coordinates: 50°50′31.92″N 0°10′33.42″W / 50.8422000°N 0.1759500°W / 50.8422000; -0.1759500

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