Remember When - The Laurels

A rich history

The first English Laurels was staged in 1930 at its spiritual home, Wimbledon. Held over 500 yards, it filled a niche between the 400 yard sprinters in the Scurry Gold Cup and the 525 yard English Derby runners. 

The Laurels was one of the original six ‘classics’ and became one of the highlights of the racing year at the increasingly plush Wimbledon Stadium. 

Unfortunately, that finished with two bangs. The first being the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the second being an incendiary bomb which destroyed the main grandstand in 1944. 

Wimbledon kept racing (afternoons only of course) and staged the Laurels in 1939 and 1940. The latter final was particularly bizarre. As a disincentive to travel, given wartime conditions, the event was not advertised. 

It wasn’t until racegoers were in the stadium on final night that they discovered that the Laurels Final was being stage. 

The following year it was replaced with a substitute competition, the Holiday Trophy. 

With building materials unavailable it took more than five years before punters would benefit from refurbished facilities but crowds grew. 

By 1951 the Laurels was worth £875 to the winner (equivalent- £37,000) and was viewed by “15,521 paying customers”. 

The 1964 Laurels saw 17,000 through the gate though the figure was less than half of that by the end of the decade. 

By 1971, the Laurels was worth £5,000 to the winner – equal to the Irish Derby and the equivalent of £101K today. 

In a 1972 article in Greyhound Magazine, Wimbledon’s Jerry Monk gave a breakdown of sporting activities at the stadium. ‘Big races like the Laurels bring in 7,000 fans. Stock car racing averages around 6,000 and speedway pulled in 20,000 for the Wills Internationals on Bank Holiday Monday.” 

The Laurels remained at Wimbledon until 1997 but given Plough Lane was then hosting the 480m English Derby, the track’s original prestige event then switched to Belle Vue from 1998 to 2016. 

The prestige of the event continued to decline with track owners GRA reducing the entries from 48 to 36 and then 24. 

Newcastle then staged it on three occasions (with a subsequent drop in prize money to £5,000 to the winner).  

Saturday will feature Perry Barr’s fifth Laurels and is worth £12,500 to the winner. 

The people

In terms of owners, the joint most successful Laurels owner was Mrs Jessie Cearns, wife of Will Cearns, who built the stadium. She won the event on four occasions, all trained by local handler Sidney Orton. 

In fact, ‘the Mick The Miller man’ won the event on six occasions in total including that first 1930 winner Kilbrean Boy. 

But Frances Chandler, wife of Walthamstow founder Bill Chandler, also won the event on four occasions: Polonious (’53), Duet Leader (’55, ’56) and Sole Aim (’70). 

George Flintham, ‘the Aga Khan of greyhound racing’, who famously won everything but the English Derby, landed the Laurels twice.

Then there was Lord Denham who was the Senior Steward at the NGRC who also owned the 1939 winner, Musical Duke. 

Perhaps the most high profile Laurels winner though was Roger Waters, founder of Pink Floyd. Having been beaten in the 1993 final with favourite Farmer Patrick, he and trainer Terry Dartnall returned the following year to land the event with Deenside Dean. 

Returning to the subject of winning trainers, second on the list is Charlie Lister OBE courtesy of Derby Flyer (’99), Ningbo Jack (’04), Blonde Boss (’05) Clash Harmonica (’06) and Jordans Brianna (’14). 

But success comes in various shades. Take the case of Canterbury trainer Jim Fletcher who brought Glengar Ranger for £1,250 and backed the dog from 200/1 ante post down to 6/4 in the 1991 Laurels Final and romped up by nine lengths. 

At the time it was estimated that Fletcher had won in the region of £150K-£200K (equiv. today of £460K-£614k). 

Lastly – who hasn’t won the Laurels? 

Mark Wallis! 

Approaching 100 Category One events and no Laurels.

Make a decent quiz question!

The hounds 

The Laurels Roll of Honour is littered with the names of some of the greats of British racing. 

The 1931 Laurels winner Future Cutlet also won an English Derby and two Cesarewitches.  

In the Derby Final he was followed home by the 1932 Laurels winner Beef Cutlet.  

Similar to the English Derby, there have been four double Laurels winners: Mrs Cearns’ Ballyhennessy Sandhills, Mrs Chandler’s Duet Leader and the 1964/65 winner Conna Count. 

But if you had to select the greatest ever winner of the event, it would probably be Ballymac Ball. In 1949 he became the first dog to break 28.00 on his way to the final. He came back to win the 1950 version as well as the same year’s English Derby. 

The following year, Lesley Reynolds completed an English Derby/Laurels double with Ballylanigan Tanist. 

Then in 1952, he achieved an identical feat with Endless Gossip. Ballylanigan Tanist as the runner-up. 

The 1948 Laurels winner Good Worker was exported to Australia and won two races within three days at Harold Park. At five years old he was beaten favourite in the Hobart 1000. 

Only three bitches have won the Laurels: Kitshine (1935), Pineapple Grand (1975) and Sunoak Crystal (2009). 

Both Kitshine and Pineapple Grand also won the Oaks. The former was originally sold at Aldridge Greyhound Sale for three guineas. 

Pineapple Grand’s win was particularly notable as it came during a period when Wimbledon were refusing to seed opens. A noted wide runner, Frank Baldwin’s fawn won the final from trap one. 

The last Laurels/Derby winner was Terry Dartnall’s Lauries Panther who landed the 1982 Laurels on May 21 and the White City final on June 30. 

He was sold for a reputed £50K but is dead at five years old after suffering a ruptured blood vessel in his neck. 

He only covered around 90 bitches but the pups included the 1986 Laurels, Scurry and Dundalk Intenrnational winner Mollifrend Lucky. 

Four times winning owner Jessie Cearns presents the Laurels Trophy to owner Mr TF Nicholl. Trainer Stan Martin hold Ballymac Ball. Possibly the greatest Laurels winner ever? 

Clare Orton – son of the Laurels most successful winning trainer Sidney – won the event himself with Carry On Oregon in 1967. 

Terry Duggan (left) holds the Laurels perpetual trophy. Owner Laurie James holds the memento following Lauries Panther’s Laurels win prior to the 1982 English Derby. 

Ernie Gaskin snr won the Laurels with Ballygroman Jim and with Comeragh Boy – pictured here being held by Ernie jnr with owner Tawfik Al-Aali left of picture – pic Steve Nash 

Flashy Sir wasn’t intended to be a racing dog but was needed to sire a litter for a TV documentary series. He went on to win the 1997 Laurels for Bob and Sue Morton and trainer Natalie Savva. pic Steve Nash 

Linda Mullins won the Laurels three times: 1996-El Grand Senor, 1997-El Tenor and pictured here with the first of the trio Amenhotep. (Alison Kelly – as was – holds the winner. 

Owner trainer Jim Fletcher looking pretty cool for a man who has just landed the biggest gamble in Laurels history with the 1991 winner Glengar Ranger. Sponsor Tony Morris hands over a cheque for another £7,500.