Nottingham Greyhound Stadium

Nottingham Greyhound Stadium is a greyhound racing track and stadium on the outskirts of Nottingham, England.

Nottingham Greyhound Stadium
LocationColwick Park,
Nottingham,
Nottinghamshire,
NG2 4BE
Coordinates52.950°N 1.111°W / 52.950; -1.111
OwnerArena Racing Company
OperatorArena Racing Company
Capacity1,500
Field size437 metres (1,434 ft)
SurfaceSand
ScoreboardNone
Construction
Opened24 January 1980
Renovated19 August 2008
Expanded19 August 2008

Races at the course are held on Monday, Friday and Saturday evenings as well as an additional matinée meeting every Tuesday.[1] The circumference of the track is 437 metres (1,434 ft).[1]

Competitions

The stadium holds several competitions annually, the most prestigious of which is the English Greyhound Derby.

Other major competitions include:

  • The Select Stakes, (500 metres), invitation event
  • The Select Stayers Stakes – July, (730 metres)
  • The Puppy Classic – August, (500 metres), puppy event
  • The Produce Stakes – October, (500 metres), British-bred event
  • The Eclipse – November, (500 metres)
  • The National Sprint – December, {(305 metres)
  • The Guineas (500 metres) (former event)

Origins and opening

In 1970 the White City Stadium in Nottingham closed down leaving the city without greyhound racing. However members of the Severn and Trent greyhound clubs had maintained a presence in the council’s thoughts and several years later plans for a new track within the Nottingham Racecourse site began to surface. The site of the racecourse was west of the village of Colwick and the racecourse had been open since 1892.[2]

On 24 January 1980 the Colwick Park greyhound track opened, it was situated on the north side of the racecourse where a car parking area had stood and previous to that it had been an old bed of the River Trent. The circumference of the track was 442 metres and was described as a very good galloping track with long straights and the sand used was Worksop Grey. The Managing Director Jon Carter announced that there were over 2,000 attending the first meeting which consisted of eight races, six over 500m and two over 295m. The first winner was a greyhound called Tartan Al trained by W Horton who won in 32.98sec at odds of 7-1.[2]

History

20th Century

An initial investment of £250,000 included the Panorama Room with a state of the art restaurant and totalisator. The first Racing Manager was Jim Woods,[3] the Director of Racing was Terry Meynell and the first trainers were Bill Horton, Christine Lawlor, A Coppin, T Smith and one Charlie Lister. Another trainer that appeared on opening night was Geoff DeMulder and he joined the track in 1984. Racing took place on Monday, Thursday and Saturday evenings and the nature of the large track soon attracted some of the sports best greyhounds including Scurlogue Champ who broke the track record in October 1985 and then Ballyregan Bob who won two races at Nottingham that formed part of his world record breaking run during November 1985 & April 1986 with the first run creating a new track record. It was also in 1986 that Coventry closed resulting in the Eclipse competition finding a new home at Nottingham. In April 1989 the 'Outside Sumner' hare was replaced by the 'Bramich' and race distances were re-measured as 310, 500, 700 & 747m.[4]

In 1988 Terry Corden took control of Nottingham from Wiseville Ltd, Corden had recently sold Derby Greyhound Stadium and had been successful during the property boom. Racing Manager Jim Woods left to join Monmore Green Stadium and was replaced by Mick Smith before Peter Robinson took over. One of the first tasks of the new owners was to invest in new facilities and in 1989 the track underwent a considerable upgrade.[5]

A new competition introduced to the track in 1990 was the National Sprint, the important race had struggled to find a home since the closure of Harringay Stadium and would be held towards the end of the year and was known as the Peter Derrick Christmas Cracker for a few years. Trainer Dawn Wheatley trained Ayr Flyer, who finished runner-up in the 1994 English Greyhound Derby.

Wembley closed to greyhound racing in 1996 and Nottingham was awarded the prestigious Select Stakes as a consequence in 1997. Trainer Charlie Lister won the 1997 English Greyhound Derby and Scottish Greyhound Derby with Some Picture.[6]

It was voted 'Central Region Racecourse of the Year' by the British Greyhound Racing Board for 1998-1999.[7]

21st Century

The track was voted 'Central Region Racecourse of the Year' by the British Greyhound Racing Board for a second time in 2001-2002.[7] A new kennel range costing £250,000 was introduced in 2003.[8] Stadium owner Terry Corden brought his daughter Rachel and son Nathan into the business and they are now both heavily involved in the running of the track. Another event (the Produce Stakes taken from Hall Green Stadium) came to the track in 2009.[9]

In 2018 the stadium signed a deal with Arena Racing Company (ARC) to race every Monday and Friday evening and a matinée meeting every Tuesday.[10] During 2019 the track was chosen as the new venue for the sport's most famous event, the English Greyhound Derby which switched from Towcester.[11]

In 2020 the stadium was sold by Nottingham Greyhound Stadium Ltd to ARC. The Director of Nottingham Greyhound Stadium Rachel Corden was retained by ARC and appointed ARC Greyhound Operations Director.[12]

Track records

Current

Distance
metres		 Greyhound Time Date Notes
255Skate On [13]14.8418.08.2014
305Target Harris17.3402.06.2014
480Swift Hoffman28.0715.07.2014
500Skywalker Logan [14]29.0525.05.2019Derby first round
680Fabulous Shanty41.0604.03.2013
730Romantic Rambo44.1115.07.2014
905Festival Time [15]56.4618.11.2014
925Fearsome Liberty57.8618.11.2013
500 HEl Tenor30.7121.06.1999

Former [16]

References
  1. "Track Info: Nottingham Greyhound Stadium". thedogs.co.uk (Greyhound Board of Great Britain website). Greyhound Board of Great Britain. 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  2. Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing, pages 58-61. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
  3. "REMEMBER WHEN: SEPTEMBER". Greyhound Star.
  4. Genders, Roy (1990). NGRC book of Greyhound Racing, pages 49-50. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 0-7207-1804-X.
  5. Barnes, Julia (1991). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File, page 72. Ringpress Books. ISBN 0-948955-61-9.
  6. "1997 Derby". Greyhound Derby.com.
  7. British Racing Greyhound Annual 2003. Raceform. 2004. ISBN 1-904317-07-3.
  8. "Remember When - February 2003". Greyhound Star. 2018.
  9. Hobbs, Jonathan (2007). Greyhound Annual 2008, page 194. Raceform. ISBN 978-1-905153-53-4.
  10. "Arc Schedule Released". Greyhound Star.
  11. "Nottingham to stage 2019 English Derby". Greyhound Star. 13 December 2018.
  12. "PRESS RELEASE – ARC CONFIRMS ACQUISITION OF NOTTINGHAM GREYHOUND STADIUM". Greyhound Star.
  13. "2014 track record result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  14. "25 May heats". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  15. "2014 Track record result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  16. "Track records". Greyhound Data.
  17. "2014 track record result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  18. "Betfred Eclipse final". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
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