Oxford Greyhound Stadium

OXFORD 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.
The first greyhound track in Oxford was situated at 1° 12' W 51° 43' N and opened for racing on 31st March 1939. Greyhound racing took place on the 397 metre circuit and has witnessed some outstanding greyhounds throughout its history. One of the most famous is the bitch Narrogar Ann who had her first race at Oxford on 27th March 1948 and later went on to win the 1949 English Greyhound Derby. The most prestigious race that was run at the circuit was the Oxfordshire Stakes over 450 metres.

It has had a chequered history, but racing in the university city finally came to an end on 29th December 2012.

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 grateful to Tony Nash for providing the data. SPRINTS (up to 385m) STANDARD (386-549m) DISTANCE (550-699m) EXTENDED (700-999m) Oxford Track Records at a snapshot in time:- SPRINTS 310 yards Black Invasion 17.26 secs Rating 31 STANDARD 475 yards Rushbrooke Bob 27.04 secs Rating 11 STANDARD 525 yards Latest Surprise 29.55 secs Rating 23 DISTANCE 735 yards Mischievous Red 43.20 secs Rating 18 Track Records as of 1989 SPRINTS 250 metres Debbys Lad 14.96 secs Rating 39 STANDARD 450 metres Fearless Ace 26.85 secs Rating 42 DISTANCE 645 metres Run Free 39.46 secs Rating 39 Track Records, as of September 2014, 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. SPRINTS (up to 385m) STANDARD (386-549m) DISTANCE (550-699m) EXTENDED (700-999m) Oxford Track Records at a snapshot in time:- SPRINT 250 metres Miss Lee 14.65 secs. Rating 59 24th March 2009 STANDARD 450 metres Up For Sam 26.20 secs Rating 65 11th February 2010 DISTANCE 645 metres Primitive Way 38.98 secs Rating 50 25th March 2008 EXTENDED 845 metres Tralee Crazy 52.16 secs Rating 46 22nd March 1998 MARATHON 1040 metres Honeygar Bell 67.63 secs Rating 60 14th November 1989
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=455343&txtYCoord=203382
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.
If you have rare Oxford badges and artefacts for sale then email johnslusar@fsmail.net