MANCHESTER WHITE CITY GREYHOUND STADIUM

This site is not an official website for the track shown here and is neither approved or endorsed by the stadium. I am indebted to Richard English for the scans of badges on this page.
Manchester has been the home of a number of greyhound stadia and even hosted the very first meeting just down the road at Belle Vue. Manchester White City was a GRA run track and located in Old Trafford. It opened its gates in 1930.  Racing traditionally took place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and it also operated as a BAGS track prior to its closure.  Greyhound racing also took place at Audenshaw, a venture that was launched on 15th March 1932, although it shared the venue with trotting races.
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The White City hosted the Manchester Cup over 485 metres which was contested each March. Another principal race it hosted was the Mancunian Cup over 670 metres and run each September, as well as the Cock of the North Stakes, although this was later transferred to Belle Vue. It closed its gates for the final time in 1982.
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I am grateful to Jon Seddon for the following link to a map showing the whereabouts of the old track
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=381271&txtYCoord=396188

Track Records, as of 1947, are shown below together with an indication of how fast the time is in comparison to other tracks, both for currently open and defunct tracks, in the UK. Ratings are between 0 and 100, where 100 is an extremely fast time and reflects the speed of the track, tightness of the circuit and quality of greyhound visiting the tracks. I am extremely grateful to Tony Nash for providing the data.
SPRINT (up to 385m) STANDARD (386-549m) DISTANCE (550-699m) EXTENDED (700-999m)
Manchester White City Track Records at a snapshot in time:-
STANDARD 500 yards Coyne’s Castle 28.55 secs Rating 10
STANDARD 525 yards Jersey Creamery 29.80 secs Rating 15
DISTANCE 700 yards Dark Hissop 41.07 secs Rating 4
DISTANCE 725 yards Clady Border 42.26 secs Rating 10
Track Records as of 1980
STANDARD 485 metres Myrtown 28.76 secs Rating 48
DISTANCE 670 metres Crogan Hostess 41.12 secs Rating 36

I am grateful to Chris Pitt for the scans of the racecards shown below.
This section gives a comprehensive picture of the badges produced by the track throughout the ages, but only provides the briefest of glimpses of its history. For those wishing to undertake further research we can recommend a visit to

http://astore.amazon.co.uk/wwwgreyhoundd-21 where further reading can be undertaken.
I am grateful to Byron Leeming for one of the badges shown below. His father, Billy Leeming, was a bookmaker at the track and Byron has fond memories of playing in the grandstand at the track.
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If you have rare Manchester White City badges and artefacts for sale then email johnslusar@fsmail.net