GBGB eyes centenary year with celebration of past and present
THE GBGB has launched the social media hashtag #CelebratingOurStadia with venues past and present to be featured in the run-up to Christmas.
The feature comes ahead of the centenary year of greyhound racing in the UK in 2026, the first regulated meeting having taken place at Belle Vue in Manchester on July 24th 1926 when in excess of 1,700 spectators witnessed the inaugural 440 yards race won by a greyhound named Mistley.
The series launched on Monday 1st December with Valley in Ystrad Mynach, the only greyhound stadium in Wales.
It features regularly on sisracing.tv with meetings on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, Sunday mornings and occasional Saturday evenings.
Oxford is one of the modern-day success stories in greyhound racing having been closed by the GRA in 2012 (not 2021 as graphic) but saved from redevelopment by a powerful local lobby group before eventually reopening ten years later.
Oxford currently stages greyhound racing on sisracing.tv on Tuesday afternoon, Thursday morning, Friday afternoon, Saturday evening with an open-race card on Sunday afternoon.
Suffolk Downs has had an even more roller-coaster recent history than Oxford, the originally-named Mildenhall venue having been closed for some four years until reopened for greyhound racing by Kevin Boothby under its new name in 2022.
Sadly, a devastating fire hit the track in 2024 and it was again closed until reopening in November this year, quickly building to a three meetings a week schedule on sisracing.tv on Monday and Friday afternoons plus an open-race card on Tuesday evenings.
White City in London was the HQ of greyhound racing in the UK for almost 60 years and is still much-missed more than 40 years after its closure. Home of the Greyhound Derby until 1984, it attracted huge crowds during the greyhound racing boom years immediately post-World War Two.
A slightly more recent blast from the past is Wimbledon Stadium which took over the mantle as English Derby host venue from White City in 1985 and held the premier Classic right through to 2016 before closing early the following year. It also hosted the Oaks, St Leger and Puppy Derby
