Remember When - Chart King

FRISBY FULL (T5) just leads winner CHART KING (6) into the first bend with partly hidden Deerfield Sunset (1) close up on rails. Secret Crystal (4) comes next ahead of the unfortunate Pure Patches and Pottos Storm. Wimbledon 26.6.99 

Pic STEVE NASH

Remember When - Chart King

To go through an English Derby unbeaten is one thing, but to go into a final looking to extend a winning sequence to 14, spread between three different countries is really something quite extraordinary. 

By the time ante-post favourite Chart King arrived at Wimbledon in the summer of 1999, he had already had an extraordinary year.  

Jointly owned and trained by Lurgan based brothers Karl and Ralph Hewitt, the early-paced wide running son of Trade Official had started as joint favourite for the Tote Gold Cup Final at Shelbourne Park but finished fourth behind April Surprise. 

The brindle had then gone unbeaten through the Easter Cup setting a new 525 yard track record of 28.47 in the semi-finals and reducing that to 28.40 with a four length win over Frisby Flashing in the final. 

King’s demolition of the Scottish Derby was clinical. His four Shawfield 480m wins were recorded in 30.28 (-50), 29.55, 29.09 and 28.98. His returns were 1/3f, 1/3f, 4/9f and 4/5f. The aggregate winning distance: 16 lengths. 

Installed as the ante-post favourite for the Wimbledon equivalent, he duly recorded the fastest first round win in 28.75. Deerfield Sunset would be just two spots slower in a rivalry that would endure throughout the event. 

With the track running at -20, Elaine Parker’s Plasterscene Gem would match King’s first round time as the quickest second round winner. King managed a 28.86, Frisby Full was a spot slower while Deerfield Sunset posted 28.97. 

Into the third round and Ger McKenna’s Sunset looked an increasing threat to the favourite with a 28.69 run. King was 10 spots slower with the tiny Crayford entry Pure Patches causing a bit of an upset with a merited half length defeat of Frisby Full in 28.78. 

Three night later and the quarter-finals, and it was Deerfield Sunset who appeared to hold the cards after clocking the quickest time to date, 

28.51. Chart King was business-like when clocking 28.67 but was only half a length faster than Linda Jones’ 475 guineas Shelbourne Sales purchase Secret Crystal. Stay For Tony won the other qualifier in 28.71. 

From Tuesday to Saturday for the semis and the big clash was on between the two Irish superstars. Chart King v Deerfield Sunset and the layers made the McKenna runner a 4/6f. Chart King was 5/4, 20/1 bar the pair. 

From the moment Chart King popped out in front and set his fastest sectional to date, 5.00, the result was a formality. Sunset ran on but was almost three lengths adrift of the 28.63 winner at the line. Pure Patches won the weaker semi in 29.07. 

The 1999 English Greyhound Derby Final

Chart King would go to traps as the 8/11fav, largely as a result of that semi-final run. 

Before the final, Karl Hewitt said: “King is getting used to Wimbledon. All this talk about him finding the competition too long and tough is rubbish.  

“He is getting stronger all the time and goes into the final with a cracking chance. He got better with each run at Shawfield in the Scottish Derby and this should be no different.” 

And so it proved . . .Greyhound Star’s coverage of the final is interesting in that it reflects a very different world of a quarter of a century ago. 

What is the greatest feat – becoming a canine star in three different countries or overcoming religious differences in a Northern Irish town if only for one night? 

Chart King achieved both with a display of trackcraft, ability and courage as he landed the 1999 William Hill Derby at Wimbledon. 

Watched by SKY TV audiences and intertrack betting punters in tracks throughout Britain and Ireland King, achieved the impossible. 

The race is not simply told. In an event polarised by the media into a feature of two co-stars, bit player Frisby Full made a bold bid for centre stage when rocketing away from trap five.  

Full led from King around the first two with Deerfield Sunset in third. At the first bend Secret Crystal dived to the rail impeding Pure Patches who then cannoned into Pottos Storm. Patches was KO’d with a career ending injury. 

Going into the third bend Chart King swooped around the outside of Frisby Full and Deerfield Sunset railed into second.  

For a few moments Sunset looked a danger but as they straightened up in the home straight King pulled away and Sunset surrendered second to a gallant Frisby Full.  

Three weeks after the greatest night of his life, joint owner Ralph Hewitt said: “For more than a week afterwards I couldn’t sleep, the whole thing kept going over and over in my mind.  

“To this day my desk is littered with unopened post, it's such a struggle to get back to normality.  

“I didn’t think it would affect me like this, I’ve been the director of a football club who have won the Irish Cup but it was never like this.”  

But Chart King fever hit the whole of Lurgan, sadly a town historically at the heart of Ireland’s sectarian problems.  

But even prior to the final, prominent local figures on both sides of the Protestant and Catholic divide were heard to rally support for their local dog.  

Ralph said: “I’m told that on final night every pub and club in Lurgan was tuned into the SKY coverage as well as at people at Ballyskeagh.  

“Apparently there was a huge celebration after he’d won.”  

Interestingly the whole sectarian side nearly erupted when a Belfast paper heard that King had been prepared for the Derby roar by hearing tapes of the crowd noise from ‘a Scottish football team’.  

“They wanted to dress the dog up in the team’s colours. But it wasn’t hard to work out what that could have led to” says Ralph.  

“When we refused they didn’t run a story about the dog at all.”  

Interestingly, the Hewitt’s had only previously attended one English Derby Final, the previous year’s won by Toms The Best.  

But it has become an instant love affair with the event.  

Ralph said: “Looking back, it was like a wonderful holiday. Even if you couldn’t win it, I think you’d always want to take part, 

“In fact, its a bit of a problem to adjust to normal life again. After the highs of the English Derby, graded racing is tough.”  

So what does Ralph think he’ll remember of the event when he looks back in a few years time?  

He said: “Definitely the people. There would be people who I might only ever have read about who I got to meet. “ 

Following the final, Chart King returned to Ireland and won two heats of the Irish Derby taking his winning sequence to 16. 

He went lame in the third round and was retired to stud. 

He was later chosen as both the British and Irish Greyhound of the Year for 1999. 

Sadly, he was an utter failure at stud and was retired as a pet without throwing any significant offspring. 

Derby winner CHART KING and connections in front of results board announcing their victory. Left to right: Bill Tuohy, Ralph Hewitt Junior, Jayne & Karl Hewitt, Ralph and Helen Hewitt. Pic STEVE NASH